When the Water burns
by Nyrata
Summary: The last survivors of a demonic race are planning their revenge on the ones that failed to protect them. The team soon finds out, that they won’t stop until they got what they want. CHAPTER 9 is on-line! The tension is rising!
1. Hidden In The Deep

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N: **Hello! - Please tell me what you think of this fanfic, but please, go easy on me... Anyway. Don't mind the stiffness. There can be some OOC, I'm not really sure...

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters. But I **do **own the Acire. Do not take them as your own characters. They're mine. ALL MINE!!! MHAHAHAHAhaha cough out of breath I should stop doing that...

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hidden in the Deep **

Dark clouds began to cover the blue sky. Thunder could be heard in the distance. The wind, that just an hour ago could barely be felt, now swept over the land. Small trees bent under its power. A storm was coming.

"Just my luck," whispered the boy. With his brown eyes he looked at the clouds that came closer by the second. He could run home, but he didn't feel like it. Or he could walk, getting wet by the rain. He didn't feel like that either. "Decisions, decisions..." he mumbled.

After a thought, he decided to walk and just get wet. You couldn't stop the rain and he wasn't going to be afraid for a bit of water.

Slowly it started to rain, but soon it was pouring. Yusuke walked on, slightly cursing. The now abandon streets reflected every image, almost mirror-like. The sound of drops hitting steel, wood and stone filled the air.

In the distance he saw a green sail. Normally it was used to block the sun, but under this condition, it could also be used as a spot to take cover. Yusuke looked. No, no other persons there.

"Shelter!" he said happily. He sat down on one of the chairs. It was made from reed, painted white. Personally, Yusuke found this pavement café very pleasant. When the wetter was good, people would come here to buy ice cream and talk about who knows what.

Which reminded him of the time he and Kurama took Hiei out to get some 'sweet snow'. Hiei looked at the ice cream like it was everything he lived for. The face of the cashier, it was priceless.

He let out a small sigh, a smile on his face. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain, ticking on the sail and the street stones. It was so peaceful. Ok, that was not something he would say out loud, it could ruin his reputation, but still, he liked the sound.

When lighting flashed through the sky, his eyes shot open. "Damn," he whispered. He really wanted to go home, warm dry home.

He stood up and walked to the edge of the sail, staring at the clouds. They were dark gray, almost black. He hated lightning. He told Kurama more then once to stop talking about all the accidents that happen during storms, it creped him out. Another sigh escaped his mouth. "OK. I'll just run home, as fast as I can."

He looked at the street and was about to run, when... "What the...!"

Just that moment he heard a sound. Not that of footsteps or any other thing moving. It was more like... words. Not speaking, certainly not nearby, almost like singing.

Where'd come from? It was so soft, it could barely be heard, but it was there. Looking around, he saw no one. Whispering words, slowly forming sentences. It seemed to hold on the same pass as the raindrops.

_'We've fought an endless road_

_Based with awful lies...' _(A/N Don't own, song name: This is how it is, by Twarres)

"It couldn't..." Yusuke stared at the water on the streets. The same pass, drops, pools, every bit of water moved the same way.

'_We couldn't find the key _

_To open up our eyes'_

"Ok, this is really freaking me out," he said. 'This is defiantly NOT normal. I'll have to tell Koenma about this...' Again, he looked at the sky. 'Now, how to get to him fast...?'

'_Together... forever _

_It wasn't meant to be'_

"Yusuke!" a very familiar voice yelled.

'My prayers have been heard... Well, almost...' he thought to himself. In front of him landed a girl on an oar. Her blue hair was sticking to her face and her pink kimono had become a few shades darker. "Botan! How good to see you! I was just thinking about you!"

'_If we can't hold on, _

_Then we've got to let it go'_

"No time for a chat. We have a serious problem!"

"You're wet and need some dry clothes?"

"That too, but that's not what I'm here for. You noticed the rain, didn't you? The point is, everywhere, and I mean everywhere in the 3 worlds it's raining."

"So...?"

"So? SO...? It's a major problem SO!

"Does the singing have anything to do with it?"

"You mean you hear it?"

'_And this is how it is now _

_No more looking back'_

"Yes, don't you?"

"Of course I do! But the singing is mere an extra proof of who are behind this. We need to go to Koenma's, now. This is very serious. The Reikai Tantei must respond and act now, before it's too late. So, that's why I'm here. To pick you up. The others are waiting for us, so lets go!" She grasped Yusuke's jacket and flew of.

'This is so embarrassing. Can't she just buy a car, or something?' He started listening to the words again. What was going on? Maybe the answer was in the song.

'_Love has finally left us _

_And is gone away _

_No, it wasn't meant to stay'_

Whatever it was, he was more determined than ever to get the information from Koenma.

* * *

"Where is he?!" Koenma yelled. He was floating around in the room, getting more pissed by the second. 

"I'm sure they could be here any minute now," Kurama said, trying to calm the prince of Reikai down.

"Hn, they'd better be. The sooner they're here, the sooner we can leave."

Hiei had barely completed his respond, when the doors slammed open. Yusuke rushed into the room, Botan hopping behind him, moving difficult in her wet kimono.

"What took you? I've been waiting for the past 21 minutes!"

"Gomen nasai," Botan whispered. "I had some trouble finding Yusuke."

"Just don't let it happen again," Koenma said. Clearly he felt this wasn't the time to argue. "Now, listen up, we don't have much time. You're going to the Ithara Sea, in the Eastern parts of Makai. Botan will take you there. At the bottom of the sea, there's a village. Its inhabitants are the Acire, a water-demon race. We've received messages that the village is under attack. Go there, and try to stop the ones behind the assault. Any questions?"

"How do we recognize an Acire?" Kurama asked.

"They are all very different, but the one thing they have in common is their blue-grayish skin."

"A sea isn't small. How will we find the right place?"

"Like I said, Yusuke, Botan will take you there."

"And just how are we going to breath. I mean, we'll have to go under water."

Koenma tossed all of them a small pill. "With that. It makes your lungs able to get oxygen out water, for about 2 hours."

"And I have a question too, sir," Botan said, slightly shaking. "Will we be on time? The singing often means that it has already happened."

"I know, but lets hope that this is one of the exceptions. Now, get going. The clock is ticking!"

"Alrighty!" Kuwabara said. And with that last statement the Reikai Tantei followed Botan, to get to the portal that would take them to the Ithara Sea.

"Let's hope they're on time," Koenma whispered. "I don't even want to know what would happen if they're to late..."

* * *

"Great, I'll never get this salty water out of my clothes, never!" Yusuke said. 

"This isn't the time for complaining." Botan jumped of her oar in the water. "The village is down here. Five minutes swimming. Follow me."

They all dove down. Yusuke and Kuwabara swimming side on side with Botan, Kurama and Hiei behind them.

After 4 minutes of swimming the water started to change. It became warmer, the flow softer and calmer.

"Look!" Kurama said, pointing in the distance.

A blue light seemed to dance in the flow. When they came nearer they saw it was a water-like liquid that glowed almost like fire.

"That shouldn't be here..." Botan stated.

Swimming further it became clear the liquid came from a plain at the bottom of the sea. Looking closer the Reikai Tantei noticed small houses build on the lose sand. The walls were made from grayish bricks, roofs from sea plants. The ground was covered with shells and above the ground hung rope, made from seaweed. On the weed hung glass balls, slightly glowing. Some were broken, causing the liquid within to be carried away by the water.

In the village was an eerie quiet. There was no sound except that of the flow. Damages to the building suggested that there'd been a fight. The team looked, but they found neither the Acire, nor the ones that had attack the village.

After a while Hiei found a dragging trail. He called Kurama and together they followed it to a large building. They opened the entry doors.

In the hallway seemed to have been some struggles. Walls were damaged, lamps broken.

Silently the 2 demons swum through the hall to a door that was barricaded. Hiei easily got rid of the block of stone that was place in front of the passage with his katana. Holding his sword tight in his hand, ready to attack everything that moved, Kurama carefully pushed the door open.

Hiei's eyes widened, Kurama looked away. In the room were dozens of Acire, bound to blocks of stone, hooks on the walls and other objects. All of them had been blindfolded, their skin bruised and scraped. Wounds on arms and backs told the 2 demons that the water demons had been beaten up.

All water demons had stab wounds in their hearts, neck and other places on the body.

"We're too late..." Kurama whispered, guild in his voice. With sad eyes he looked at a young girl hanging on the ceiling, her lifeless body moving at the movement of the stream.

"The others need to know," Hiei said, closing the door. The ones responsible, he knew, were long gone.

* * *

**A/N** First chapter. Hope you liked it! Please R&R, let me know what you think. 


	2. Souls Of Water

**When The Water Burns **

**A/N: **Chapter 2 of the 'When the Water burns' series. Hope you enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho and any of its characters. The Acire on the other hand are my characters, so don't use them as your own.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Souls of Water**

Back in the Reikai palace, the Reikai Tantei waited for Koenma. The prince told them to stay, but most of the team just wanted to go home.

Kurama looked down, wondering who could have done such an awful thing. Most demons didn't care about killing, to some it was a daily routine, but these demons made sure their victims suffered. 'All those innocent demons. I swear, I will find the ones responsible. I swear...'

Hiei on the other hand thought about other things. 'Why didn't they fought back? A water demon race, whipped away at the bottom of the sea. They had the advantage, why... Why didn't they fought?'

Kuwabara just stared, not knowing what to think. He was so shocked when Kurama and Hiei told them what happened. He had refused to see the room where the Acire where gathered before they died, in his eyes that was unworthy towards them.

Yusuke walked around, an angry expression on his face. He was angry with the ones that attacked, but even more, angry with himself. He was to late to help the demons.

Looking at his friends, he realized that they all had a hard time trying to accept it. Botan seemed to have the most difficulties keeping herself together. She was sitting quietly in a corner, staring blankly in front of her, holding her kimono tight in her fists.

Seconds, minutes, they felt like hours. Suddenly the doors to the room opened and Koenma, in his toddler form, entered the room. Once he sat down on his chair, he gestured them to come closer.

When all gathered around the desk, which was filled with all kinds of papers and files, Koenma started to talk.

"What you saw today must have been quite a shock to all of you. Keep in mind, it's not your faults that they didn't survive. Even if we'd responded faster, we'd still been too late."

"Then why did you send us?" Hiei asked, slightly irritated that no matter what, they weren't able to help.

"Unbelief... I didn't want to believe that they were gone. But now that we know that the Acire race is destroyed, we need to try to find the offenders and punish them. And we just lost the only demonic race that was willing to form an alliance with the Reikai."

"Alliance?" Yusuke looked confused. "You mean..."

"I mean that the Reikai and the Acire were allies. They lived in peace at the bottom of the Ithara Sea for the past three thousand years. The water demons didn't believe in violence and murder. They refused to feed on other living intelligent creatures, like humans."

'Good thing they never met Kuwabaka, or else they would've changed their mind.' Hiei thought.

"My father personally visited the leader of the Acire race. That was about thousand years ago. He and the leader of the Acire made the deal, that if they kept their peaceful way of living and didn't harm any creature from Reikai or Ningenkai and would give us information about what was going on in Makai, we would help the Acire out whenever a group of other demons threatened or attacked them. An old deal... They kept their part, but we failed to keep ours. That's why I didn't want to believe that is was to late..."

"Then, what about the singing?" Yusuke asked.

"He's right. It must be created by someone. If they'd all died, then how could there be singing in the air?" Kurama added.

"There couldn't be. Not if they all died." Botan whispered.

"That's why we know that at least one survived." Koenma shuck his head. "In my entire life I've only seen an Acire mad one time. Lets say, I hoped never to see such an outburst again. Once angry, they are very lethal and determent, not stopping before they got what they want."

"What happened?" Kurama asked.

"The Acire have 2 sacred objects, the Book of Wisdom and the Orb of Light. About 300 years ago a demon stole the Orb. Together with an Acire, her name was Rehana, I went to search for it. Once we found the demon, she lost control, ripping the creature apart. He wasn't even able to lay a hand on her."

"Nasty," Yusuke said.

"Are they a danger to us?" Kurama asked. 'If the Acire are as determent to undo the injustice done to them, the survivor would certainly come after the ones responsible, meaning the offenders and maybe one of us.'

"Under normal circumstances, no. But now... I don't know. Most likely. After all, Reikai did promise to help them out, and failed..." Koenma looked down at his desk and sighed.

"And the objects? Are they still in the village?" Kurama asked worried, that if not, their anger would be even greater.

"I don't know. I've sent some people down there to find out. They'll also burry the bodies like the Acire always do with their deceased. The bodies will be wrapped in fabric and will be taken to the streaming layer that flows to the West. According to them, that is where the Sea of Death is, where the souls will unite with the water from which they were born."

"Born from... water...?" Kuwabara scratched his head.

"Yes. During a certain amount of time the Acire gather water from all 4 flow directions. At night, when the moon shines just right, which is only a few days a year, they combine water from all 4 flows, making it solid with sand from the sea bottom. In the light of the moon, a new Acire will be born," Botan explained.

"Indeed. They are creatures born from water. Thanks to this, they are able to control all water, and I mean all. That's the reason why they're so dangerous."

The Reikai Tantei was quiet. Not only would they have to find the demons responsible, but also had to look out for the Acire, which had now become their enemies as well.

"Go home, get some rest. You need it." Koenma said. "Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious. The ones that survived are most likely hiding in Ningenkai, because at this moment, that is the safest place for them to be. Keep in mind that the Acire always give a warning before they act, giving the victim or anyone close to them one chance to get away. That way one can never say they hadn't been warned. So remember, if you hear singing from the water, be at your guard."

"Ok," Yusuke answered.

* * *

Botan brought them to the portal that leaded to Ningenkai. The team went through, getting back in their own trusted city.

Kuwabara rushed home, because it was already getting dark. He knew his sister hated it when she didn't know where he was.

Hiei disappeared in a blur, getting to the forest. He jumped in his tree, closing his eyes after a long day.

Kurama had one last question for Botan. "Does Koenma have any idea who's behind this all?"

"He's suspecting some demon thieves, but he isn't sure yet. Once it's clear they're the ones, he'll let you know. Then you can hunt them down and give them what they deserve!" Botan told, getting more fanatic by the second.

"It'd be my pleasure!" Yusuke said.

"You're not going without me! I want to do something too," Kurama smiled.

"Don't worry. You'll get your part," Yusuke grinned.

"I hope so!"

"Anyhow, I'll see y'all around!"

"Bye!" Kurama waved his friend goodbye. Botan flew of as well, returning to Reikai.

* * *

Kurama walked home, hands in his pockets. It was still raining, but less than first. His hair was sticking to his face. With his hand he put a strand of hair back where it belonged.

The drops on the street stones and his footsteps were the only sounds present. Walking around a corner he stepped into a pool of water, getting his shoe and sock wet. He shrugged and walked on.

He had just walked a few steps, when he heard a sound behind him. Quick he turned around. He saw no one, but the pool in which he had stepped a couple of seconds ago was disturbed. Someone else had stepped into it, too. So he drew the only possible conclusion at a moment like that: He was being followed.

Carefully he looked around the corner, but saw no one. He searched with his eyes every possible place, but there was no sign of anything living but him.

He tried to sense the persons Ki, but he felt none.

"Strange," he mumbled. "I could have sworn..."

He began walking home again, on his guard for anything that might move or any sound other than rain.

The entire way there were no more signs that he was followed, but the feeling was still present. Once home he went inside. He put away his wet jacket and went to his room to get some dry clothes, not noticing that a shadow ran away from the house the moment he had entered.

* * *

Chapter 2! I'm on a roll. . Please R&R ! 


	3. The Warning Given

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N: **Next chapter of my action series! I hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters.

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Warning given**

The next 6 days were as normal as any other. There'd been no trace of an Acire. Kurama hadn't been followed anymore, for as far as he knew, and the others hadn't been either.

Koenma found out that the demon thieves were, indeed, behind the assault on the village. The Reikai Tantei had searched for the thieves, but still hadn't found them.

In the afternoon of the seventh day, Hiei was wandering around in the park. He followed the paths to a lake, laying between the trees. He'd often come here, but this time it felt different, almost like he wasn't alone.

'Of course I'm not alone,' he thought. 'Those Ningens walk around here as well.' He sat down on a bench, closing his eyes, the wind playing with his black hair.

Suddenly it became quiet. The wind stopped blowing. The only thing still making sound was the streaming water of the lake.

Hiei quickly put his guard up. He was right after all. He wasn't alone, only the other living creature wasn't human, as he first suspected.

Tiny waves flushed the shore of the lake. Gentle words were whispered. Hiei had difficulty hearing them, but what he heard scared him.

He sheathed his katana and ran of to get Yusuke. He was the one the closest to this place and Hiei's only hope to prevent the thing the song described from happening.

* * *

Kurama laid his pencil down and sighed. Finally he'd finished his math homework.

Quite pleased that he got his homework done on Friday evening, he went downstairs to get something to drink.

He took a soda can out the fridge. Sitting down at the kitchen table he wondered what he was going to do this weekend. Most likely going to Makai, trying to find the thieves and murderers that killed the Acire. The picture of the lifeless bodies flew though his mind. He had dreamt about the sight for the past few days and even during the day he couldn't get it out of his mind.

He drank his soda and threw away the empty can. He sighed and was about to return upstairs, when a hand covered his mouth.

Someone quickly bound his hands behind his back before he knew what was happening, while another person blindfolded and gagged him. He tried to struggle free, but the rope was to strongly tied around his wrists.

The next moment he smelled an odor, salty lemon like. He started to feel dizzy and fell to his knees, not able to stand anymore.

One of the two bound his feet together as well. Before Kurama knew what exactly was going on, we was put in a sack and thrown over a shoulder.

* * *

"What!" Yusuke yelled at the fire demon, very irritated that Hiei hadn't told him where he was taking him.

The Koorime tossed the black-haired boy on the ground, throwing him a death-glare. "Shut up and listen!" he hissed.

Yusuke was about to make a remark, but before he could speak another glare from a very impatient Hiei told him not to.

Yusuke listened, but heard nothing. "What?"

Hiei started to get annoyed with the linger. Clenching his fists, he looked at the water, without turning his head.

Yusuke got the hint, listening better and this time fully focused on the sound of the stream. First he only heard the waves, but after a while he could hear the voice of a young girl, gently singing a song.

'_When leaves have fallen the sky turns to gray _

_The night keeps on closing another day' _(A/N: Don't own, song name: Ice Queen, by Within Temptation. (Good song ))

"I hear her," Yusuke said. Hiei motioned him to be quiet.

'_A nightingale sings it's song of farewell_

_You'd better hide for a freezing hell'_

'What did Koenma say? The Acire give a hint about what they're going to do. So... This is their warning... But a warning for what?' Yusuke asked himself.

"Listen and maybe you'll find out," Hiei answered.

"Stop reading my mind, would you?"

_As your heart turns to stone_

_She comes at night when you're all alone_

_And when she waves, sheds your heart, shed from home_

_You'd better hide before she finds you.'_

'Does it mean that I think that it means?'

'_Whenever she is raging_

_She takes life away_

_Haven't you seen the ruins of our world?'_

"This is defiantly a warning about their revenge. But what exactly are they planning?"

"Use your brain just for once, detective!" Hiei sneered. "Have you even heard what she said?"

"Of course. I'm not deaf!"

"Are you sure? '_She comes at night when you're all alone.'_ " A moment he was silent before he continued. "I think it's very clear what they're up to."

"..."

"You really are dumb." Hiei turned to Yusuke, a serious expression on his face. "They're going to take one of us down, most likely tonight, the moment one of us is alone. I need to know who's alone tonight, that one will be their victim."

"Lets see. Kuwabara is with Yukina..." Hiei pulled an disgusted face, but decided this wasn't the time to think about what the human was doing. "Kurama is at home, with his mom, normally you'd be alone in the park, but now you're with me and I was just going somewhere."

"So, no one is alone?"

"Nope."

"There must be! Why else would they give the sign they were about to attack?"

"Admit it Hiei, you were wrong." Yusuke smirked.

"Hn." Hiei crossed his arms and started glaring very angry at a nearby rock, not wanting to see the smirk upon the detective's face.

Yusuke got up. "Are you coming with me? That we're not alone now, doesn't mean we don't have to be careful. Spend tonight with me and Kurama."

"Kurama? What do you mean?"

"O, I was going to keep him company. His mother will be visiting some friends this evening."

Hiei's eyes widened with shock. "You mean, he's all by himself?!"

"Chill. His mom isn't leaving until 9 pm."

Hiei looked at the horizon. The sun was already setting. "And what time is it now?!"

"Lets see. It's now...," Yusuke looked at his watch. His mouth fell open. "Nine THIRTY?!"

Without a second thought, Hiei sprinted of, Yusuke following behind him. 'I hope we're not to late...'

* * *

"They're gone," one of the two kidnappers whispered. Kurama could hear clearly that this one was male.

The two creatures had placed him against a tree, still inside the bag, while they waited for the coast to clear. Kurama had tried to yell and even tried to raise his Ki, but his friends hadn't noticed him. 'Must be because of this thing where I'm in.'

"Why is Jeresa still singing?" the voice complained.

"Because it's the right thing to do," the other replied. This was the first time this person spoke. Kurama could hear very clearly that the soft voice belonged to a girl.

"She could've blown our cover! We'll have to move, fast and now! The fire demon is fast. He'll find out we took his friends within the next few minutes."

"As you wish. You go get Jeresa, I'll take the boy with me."

Kurama noticed that the boy was in doubt. Clearly he didn't trusted the girl with the task of taking him with her.

"What are you waiting for? You were the one that wanted to hurry? Jeresa is on the other side of the lake and you can swim faster than me." Kurama heard the boy growl. "I'm just doing what you wanted," the girl stated.

"Fine! Just... Just hurry and don't do anything stupid!" The splashing of water could be heard. Kurama knew the boy had gone.

The girl sighed. "Don't worry, I won't. Like always, it'll eventually be you who will do the stupid thing," she mumbled.

Footsteps approached the kitsune. Kurama felt that she laid a hand on his head. He shuck his head, trying to get it of.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you," the girl whispered. "I'm just trying to get you out of this bag."

Kurama stopped his movement. The woman pulled the ropes on the entry of the bag, enlarging the opening. Next thing he knew the bag was already past his shoulders. She put her arms around him and pulled him to his feet, lowering the sack to the ground.

Next she got rid of the ropes tied around his feet. "I think you can walk. Just don't try to escape, because than I'll be forced to stop you and believe me, you won't like it."

She was standing behind him, holding his still bound hands in hers. Her skin was cold and clammy. She gently pushed him in the direction she wanted him to walk to.

Kurama obeyed, making sure his footprints were well visible in the sand, for his friends to find. After some steps he noticed she had led him to the shore of the lake.

He hesitated, but the girl urged him to go that way. He walked on, but within the shortest amount of time the water was at neck-height. Kurama wanted to turn back, or at least give the girl a sign that he wasn't able to breath below the surface, but he still had a piece of fabric in his mouth. Suddenly he'd noticed the girl wasn't holding him anymore.

He knew she was still around, although somehow he couldn't feel her presence. He turned around, taking the chance he'd bumped into her, when all of a sudden he was pulled down at his feet. He tried to scream, from shock and to let the girl know he couldn't breath, but she continued pulling him along at his feet.

Kurama struggled, when it occurred to him he had no trouble breathing. He relaxed, but at the same time wondered how it was possible. After all, the girl had pulled him down.

"You should have more trust in me. You'd really think I'd let you drown?" She let go of his feet, getting back to his hands. She removed the rope, but Kurama couldn't move his hands at will. The water strongly flowed and leaded his hands in front of him, where the girl once again tied them together.

Next she removed the fabric from his mouth. "I can't take the blindfold away, yet. Sorry." Holding his wrists, she pulled him along, further and further down.

"What's going on? How... How can I breathe? Where are you taking me?"

"Lots of questions. I can't answer them yet. I will later, don't worry." Before she could say more the boy which had left to get the other girl yelled at them.

"What in the name of the 4 flows are you doing?! I knew I shouldn't have let you do this alone. How could you be so stupid!"

"You thought I was going to take him all the way to our place, in a bag?! That is barbaric! No one deserves that!"

"He does. He's in the service of the Reikai. Let me show you what we do to people like him!"

Two girls gasped on the background, the girl that took him here pulled Kurama behind her. "Don't! It's wrong!"

"Shut up, Ira!" A strong stream dragged Kurama with it, away from the girl. He still couldn't see what was going on. He tried to swim out of the stream, but had difficulty moving in the water, because his hands were still bound together.

Suddenly he heard a sound behind him. He felt a blow to his head. Just before everything became black and silent, he heard the girl, of which he now knew her name was Ira, call a last 'No!'. Losing the last feeling of consciousness of his body, he noticed that two arms were gently wrapped around him, letting his head fall on a shoulder, just before he fainted.

"How could you!" Ira hissed at the boy, holding Kurama tight in her arms, protecting him from another blow. "I'll have a word with you once we're back in Makai. This has gone to far!"

* * *

There it was, Kurama's house. Hiei jumped in the tree next to the kitsune's bedroom window. He knew that Kurama never locked it. He opened it up and landed on the floor without making a sound.

"Kurama!" he called, but he knew it was of no use. His friend's Ki wasn't here.

He started to walk around the house. In the kitchen he stopped. A strange smell approached him.

"Uh! We need to tell Kurama to clean the kitchen with some other cleaning products. This one smell like... like... something gross!" Yusuke entered the kitchen, after he'd put the key to the frontdoor of Kurama's house back under a flowerpot.

Hiei turned to Yusuke. "It's called Reseter. It's a Makai plant growing on cliffs in the Eastern parts of the Makai seas. It's smell can paralyze someone.

"AH!" Yusuke grabbed his nose and ran out the backdoor. Once outside he took a deep breathe. "Safe... He, wait a second... Since when does Kurama leave the door open? He always locks it when his mom goes out..."

"Because someone disassembled the lock in order to get into the house." Hiei pointed at the tiny metal fragments on the ground. "They've got him..."

* * *

**A/N **Chapter 3! Please R&R! Thank you all for your attention


	4. The Burning Water

**When The Water Burns **

**A/N **Chapter 4! Let us see how Kurama is doing!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters, except for the Acire.

* * *

**Chapter 4: The burning Water**

Kurama was woken by a screaming voice. Without opening his eyes he could tell that it was the boy, who kidnapped him. His head hurted and his limbs felt weak. He decided to keep quiet for a little longer, to hear what the fight was about.

"Why are you on his side? He is the cause of our pain! The death of our people! We should kill him!" the boy shouted.

"Indirectly, yes, he's responsible, but that doesn't mean he has to die. If we kill everyone who's indirectly guilty to the death of our family and friends and all the others, we'll be rooming the world until the end of time, trying to find everyone. There are just to many," Ira answered, sounding eerily calm, but a small vibe in her voice told the redhead that she was very angry and trying her hardest to control herself.

"So tell me? Why did we even bother to get this pitiful creature here if we're not going to do anything with him?"

"I've told you more than once and I'm not telling it again."

"You little... You're so stubborn! You'll be the death of all of us one day!"

"Keep your tone down, Sarchi. What must our guest think of us?" The girl now spoke directly to Kurama. "You can open your eyes, now. I know you're awake."

'How did she...' The redhead obeyed and opened his emerald eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position.

He first looked at the girl, who, in her turn, looked him straight in the eyes. Her long aqua hair, reaching the middle of her upper leg, was gently moving in the water. She had a delicate face, a small smile on her lips, a slim body and long limbs, her skin bluish gray. Kurama noticed that she didn't had nails on both toes and fingers. She was dressed in white fabric, that seemed to have a blue shine to it. A top with one short sleeve on the right side and a skirt, right side reaching her knee, left side just a bit below her hair length. But one thing intrigued the kitsune the most... Her eyes.

Ira's eyes were aqua, just as her hair, but at the same time grayish blue and normal blue as well. When he looked a bit closer, he saw that the colors in her eyes were swirling around, like when a child mixes up different colors of paint, only didn't the colors mix up. They remained separated. This flowing made her eyes seem soft and gentle.

"Glad to see that you're OK. After that blow, I thought that you might be unconscious for a few days."

"And that's a bad thing? It would've been even better if he didn't wake up at all!" Sarchi answered.

Ira gave Sarchi a glare, her eyes hard for a moment. To Kurama's opinion, her's wasn't as good as Hiei's, but the Acire boy seemed to be startled by it for a moment, surprised by the anger on her face, but it didn't took him long to pull himself together again.

Just like Ira, he had blue grayish skin and no nails. His short hair was a shade lighter than his dark gray eyes, that, just like the girl, had multiple colors. Only his eyes weren't soft. The greater amount of gray made them seem cold and distant.

"Please forgive my companion. There've happened some things not to long ago that bother him and make him lose his patience." Another angry glare.

This time the boy answered her glare and looked right back. After 32 seconds he let a low growl escape his mouth. "You're just as pathetic as him." He turned around and swum towards an opening in the clay, stone and weed combined walls.

* * *

"This is bad news, very bad news." 

"Now what do we do?" Yusuke wondered.

"For starters, hope they let him live, although that chance is quite high, considering they took the trouble of taking him with them. They could have just killed him in his own house, but that they didn't shows they're up to something bigger. Still it's no guaranty that Kurama is unhurt. I'll analyze the portal the Acire used to get away. Underwater portals are only in water and it is possible that they ended up in a lake, with no way out." Koenma looked at the two members of the Tantei. "You're both sure he isn't in Ningenkai anymore?"

"I couldn't sense him at home or near the lake, or anywhere in between," Hiei answered.

"Excuse me, but why aren't we taking the same portal as the Acire did when they kidnapped Kurama? Then we'll be there in no time."

"Baka! That's suicide!"

"Come on! It can never be that bad!" Yusuke looked at Hiei.

"I'm afraid Hiei is right," Koenma said. "Going to that portal will bring you too close to the Acire. They'll immediately notice you. Therefore, it's not an option."

"But we have to do something!" Yusuke yelled.

"Tomorrow morning you'll travel to Makai, using the portal closest to the one used. Botan will pick you up," Koenma said. "And about Kurama... Yusuke. Write something down about him staying at your place and leave the note at Kurama's place, so his mother won't get worried."

"Will do."

"Good. And when you've brought Kurama back, you can prepare for another mission. We now know what demon clan is behind the assault on the Acire. We keep an eye on them, so when you're ready, it will only take a few minutes to find them."

"OK. See you in the morning, Hiei."

"Hn."

* * *

Even under water, inside the little house, Kurama could notice it was getting dark. It'd been half an hour since Sarchi left and Ira hadn't spoken a word all that time. After the argument she sat down, looking quite sad. From time to time she looked up, making sure the redhead didn't try to escape. The tension in the air was overwhelming. It was clear she didn't feel too comfortable being all alone in one room with a member of the Reikai Tantei. 

Ira too noticed it was getting dark. She finally pushed herself off the block of stone, swimming to what seemed to be a small table with drawers. She opened the middle and took a brown fabric bundle out of it. When opening the fabric, Kurama could see light coming from inside.

Ira took four small balls out the bag. She put the fabric on top the table and let the small glowing balls float, one by one, to the corners of the ceiling.

The kitsune recognized the light balls from his mission to the Ithara Sea. They had the same blue color, the same radiation.

"Ira! We're back!"

"About time," she said, breaking the silence, turning to the young girl with bright pink curly hair that reached her shoulders. Kurama saw that the same pink was swirling around in her big eyes. "It was already getting dark."

"But it wasn't totally dark, so we're on time," the girl said, trying to look innocent.

"Meike..."

"You told me to take Jeresa out for a swim. I did and now I'm in trouble for doing what you said?" she responded, now more defensive.

"You're not in trouble at this moment, but you will be if you don't tell me _where _Jeresa is..."

The pink-eyed girl turned around. "... Oops..."

"Oops?" Ira raised an eyebrow.

Meike made a goofy grin and was clearly nervous. "Be right back." With that, she swum off as fast as she could.

* * *

Kurama had to try his hardest not to laugh when Meike came back to the house, dragging with her an even younger girl, who was totally wrapped up in all kinds of sea plants. The little girl had a small hint of fear in her eyes, but that disappeared immediately when Ira started to unwrap the weeds. 

"Meike, how many times have I told you..? Don't wrap Jeresa up in all kinds of plants."

"Ummm..." The girl tapped her small chin. "More times than I have fingers?"

Ira sighed. "Yes... More than you have fingers. To be exact, more than all three of us have fingers _and_ toes!"

The pink-eyed girl smiled again, a goofy expression, which reminded Kurama at Yusuke's.

"It's not funny, Meike. Jeresa could get hurt. There are dangerous plants out there."

The last pieces seaweed fell to the ground from Jeresa's orange hair. She first leaded her little hand through a few strands, just to be sure there was nothing more. Next, she turned to Meike, an angry look on her round face. "This wasn't funny! You left me there!"

"Sorry. When I noticed it got dark, I rushed back here... And I think I forgot you at that moment..." Meike's cheeks became bright red.

Ira sighed again. "It's amazing how short your short-term memory is."

But just the same moment the youngest her attention switched. She pushed herself off the ground and with 'deadly' precision she landed on Kurama's lap. With her purple-blue eyes Jeresa stared into his emerald green ones. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kurama," the redhead answered, trying to sound polite even in the situation of kidnapping.

The orange-haired girl turned to the oldest. "Ira... Who is he?"

"He's the Youko in a human body, living in the Ningenkai, with his human family."

"Isn't he the one with the plant-control?" Meike asked.

"Yes, he is."

"Human..." Jeresa let her eyes go over Kurama's face, next his hair, after that she took a look at his upper body. To see his legs, she turned around, but sat back almost right away. She took a little more time for his arms and hands and stared curious at his nails. She sat up straight again, looking the kitsune in the eyes once more. "Humans are pretty."

Kurama could feel his cheeks get a bit red with this statement.

"Yes, some are, but not all of them," Ira said, smiling. "This one belongs to the pretty part of the population."

"I want to be a human too!" Jeresa squealed.

"You can't be! You have to be born human!"

"But he's a demon in a human body!" Jeresa defended herself from Meike's reply.

"Well... He's strange!"

"Please, girls. No fighting," Ira said.

"So? I want to be a human!"

"You can only be human if your mom is a human and she isn't!" Directly after Meike yelled it, it got to her exactly what she said and she covered her mouth with her hands.

Silence. The pleasant atmosphere of a few seconds ago disappeared like snow in the desert sun. Shining purple became foggy blue, tears starting to form in Jeresa's eyes.

Ira didn't waste a second and took the little girl in her arms, gently hugging her.

"Mommy..." Tears were now flowing over the girl's cheeks. Light blue drops, which gave a bit of light. The tears mixed with the water, falling apart in the flow in hundred small glittery grains of sand.

* * *

Ira touched the face of the youngest girl, who was now silently sleeping. Meike turned around from time to time, but she as well had fallen into a deep slumber. 

Ira rose to her feet. "You must be hungry. I got some Ningen food for you." From another drawer of the table from which she got the light balls, she took some cans. "I have no idea what it is and what you like... I just took what looked right." She handed Kurama a bottle of soda, canned soup (with he had to put in a microwave after adding water), canned peas and carrots and a jar with sugared peaches.

Kurama couldn't suppress a smile.

"What? Is there something wrong with the food? You don't like it?"

"No, it's just... Humans put things in cans, so they can prepare it later. I can't eat it like this."

The girl blink, clearly confused.

"That's what humans do." He handed her the peas and carrots and the soup. "But this will do. Thank you." He opened the bottle of soda and took a sip. He noticed that near his skin, he felt the metal more clearly than a second before it. Then it struck him. The girl had created a very small air bubble around his body, not much thinker than a coin, just before she'd dragged him down here. The water could provide the oxygen he needed.

He looked how Ira took the cans and put them back in the drawer. Kurama took a peach out the jar and put it in his mouth. It was almost sick making sweet, but it was the only thing eatable and spitting it out would not make the girl happy.

The drawer closed. The redhead knew that if he wanted to get answers to any of his questions, this would be the right time, when she was all alone. Still, he needed to be careful, so it would be best to start with a lighter question. "So, where's the fourth? Shouldn't the boy be back by now?"

"If I were you, I should be happy he's gone. Sarchi goes where he wants, when he wants it. He has always done it that way and it won't change now. He'll show up... Eventually."

"You don't like him?" Kurama knew that if he wasn't careful, she could take him down any second, but he had to ask it now, when she was still working along.

"Like... It has nothing to do with like." She turned around and looked the kitsune in the eyes. "We are forced to work together, if we want or not. We've got no one and nothing left."

"Nothing? So the sacred objects are stolen?"

For a moment Ira seemed startled by the direct question and his knowledge of the objects, but she decided to answer nonetheless. "Yes. Sarchi tried to get them, risking his own life, but they were gone when he got there..."

"And other then the four of you, all the Acire are dead?"

Ira's eyes turned to the ground, her eyes getting more grayish. "I think that's enough questions for one day..." She turned around, but not in time to hide the tear that had already fallen from her eye.

She swum to a corner of the house and picked up what seemed to be and old piece of fabric. It had holes in it and someone had tried to repair it, shown by the many stitches. "You should get some sleep. And don't worry, I won't kill you when you're asleep. If I would've wanted to do that, I would've done it a long time ago." She tossed the blanket towards him.

Kurama looked at the fabric in his hands. He had to say it, now. "I'm sorry we weren't on time to help." He looked at the girl. "I'm really sorry."

She turned her foggy eyes away. "It's too late for that now."

* * *

**A/N **There! Please review! 


	5. The Movement

When The Water Burns 

**A/N **I'm so sorry it took so long. Gomen. Well, no more lingering, on with the story, chapter 5!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters, except for the Acire.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 5: The Movement **

It had been a long night. Yusuke couldn't put his mind to rest. He kept thinking about his kidnapped friend. He couldn't stand it. What had happened to Kurama? Was he alright? He just had to know.

At 5 am he was walking around in his bedroom, causing him to get only more frustrated. The nearby pillow created a short moment of distraction when Yusuke threw it as hard as he could against the bedroom door, but the relieving feeling didn't last long.

'Damn it! Why did they had to take Kurama? It's not like it's our fault of their loss. I swear, if they hurt him, I'll… I'll…' The spirit detective couldn't find a good threat to ease his mind. He knew he wouldn't go through with it. Those water-demons had been through enough already and getting on their bad side would only make them angrier.

He let himself fall on the bed. After a while he looked at the clock. 5.52 am. The sun started to shine through his window. He jumped of his bed once more, this time to get himself dressed. He took a pair of jeans from his closet and a yellow shirt. It was comfortable and functional.

'We're coming for you, Kurama. And you, Acire, better be on your guard, because if you start a fight, I won't hesitate to fight back.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sleepy, Kurama opened his eyes. Looking around, he saw that Meike and Jeresa were still sound asleep. Ira was sitting on the block of stone, her eyes half open and in an, to Kurama's opinion, interesting shade of blue-gray. She didn't move or even blink.

Kurama sat up straight, feeling his sore back from laying on a piece of stone for a full night. The moment he started to move, he noticed that Ira's eyes were changing color again. They regained their original aqua color, as Ira yawned and scratched her head.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning," Kurama replied.

"Had a good night?" Ira asked while tidying her clothes.

"Sort of, if you take away the fact I was sleeping on a rock…"

"Never done that before?" Ira continued along with the redhead's funny mood.

"Nope."

"Not even when you were a Youko?"

"No. I slept on a warm layer of plants and leaves."

"Lucky you, but at least you can state after this all that you've tried something new." Ira laughed.

"O joy…" Kurama grinned. The girl wasn't too bad company. After last night their relationship seemed to have taken a turn to the positive side. She felt more comfortable with his presence, cherishing some respect for him for taking it all so easy, Kurama somehow felt more comfortable as well; the girl was talking with him as if he were someone she knew for decades, as if he were a friend

Ira swum to the two sleeping girls and gently shook them. "Come on, girls. Time to wake up. The sun is shining on the horizon already."

"No… One more minute…." Meike complained, still drowsy.

Jeresa, on the other hand, woke up really quickly and decided that this was her chance to steal the best chair in the little stone house: Kurama's lap.

Kurama looked down, a little bit surprised, where on his lap the little girl curled up again, visible enjoying the kitsune's body heat.

"Jeresa! Let go of Kurama."

"But… but… I don't wanna…" the girl mumbled.

"Let her be, it's OK," Kurama said, smiling. In a way he found it pleasant that the little girl trusted him enough to get so close. "Say, Ira…"

"Yes?"

"Why did your eyes changed color when I sat up?"

"You don't know?" Ira asked confused. "Koenma should give his henchmen better information." She sat down on the edge of the stone that Kurama had used as a bed.

Kurama sat up straight as well, legs on the ground, still with the girl on his lap, who was now cuddling with his stomach. Meike sat down on Ira's lap, giving Jeresa a jealous look.

"I hope you have noticed the difference between our eyes and those of other demons and humans?"

"Yes," Kurama answer. "The swirling colors."

"Correct," Ira said. "Our eyes are very special. Where a heart is the most important part of a human body, the eyes are our most important body part. They express our emotions, our character. They are the key to our existence and our strength."

Kurama frowned. It all sounded very strange to him.

Ira noticed his confusion. "Don't worry, I'll explain. You've seen a few emotions already. When I was angry with Sarchi, my eyes froze, the swirling stopped, causing hardening. When one of us is sad, our eyes turn into a vague gray-blue, like fog. When happy, the colors all swirl around like crazy, making our eyes look like sparkling gems. The color of our eyes and the amount of movement makes that one can see how we feel. And why my eyes changed when you moved… I woke up, when I noticed your movement."

"You sleep with your eyes open?" Kurama asked, surprise all over his face.

"Yes, it's what all Acire start to do when they reach a certain age. The young ones don't do that yet, since their eyes aren't fully developed. I can see all that happens, while sleeping," Ira smiled.

"Strange… If never heard about anything like that before… But you said as well that they provide your strength…"

"I did. The movement in our eyes symbolizes our connection to the water and from the water we get our energy. Once our eyes are closed, we lose the connection and so a great deal of our power, practically all. We aren't much stronger then, than a D-class demon. Once our eyes are closed, we're as good as helpless."

"Blindfolds…" Kurama whispered. He remembered that all the Acire were blindfolded, no exception. Back then it was strange, but now it all made sense.

"Blindfolding us is difficult," Ira said, knowing where the redhead was going. "We barely blink our eyes. But they are very sensitive, especially to certain kinds of plants and juices. When close to those, we have to close our eyes to protect them from getting destroyed."

"Lookie…" Jeresa pointed to her left eye with her small finger. Kurama noticed little red spots next to it that he hadn't noticed before.

"Jeresa got into close contact with one of those juices. If I hadn't taken her out of there, right then and there, her eye would have been destroyed, making her blind and losing half of her power for the rest of her life. The wounds are almost healed now." Ira said, gently stroking the little girl's face.

"Ira is very good at healing. She takes care of us," Meike said. "We all listen to what she says we have to do, because she's the oldest."

"All but Sarchi," Kurama added.

"Don't say that to fast," Ira said, smiling. "I'm the oldest and, even though he'll deny it, the strongest. He's stubborn, but when it really comes to it, he listens to me, and me alone."

"That's because your smarter," Jeresa said. She looked at Kurama. "Really, Ira is really smart. Every time she plays a word game with Sarchi, she wins."

Kurama looked at Ira, who took all his confusion away as soon as she soundless said the word 'argue'.

"Yep, she always wins," Jeresa said proud, almost like it concerned herself.

"OK girls, enough chatter. Time to do your chores," Ira said, putting Meike on the ground

"Owwww… But… but…" both girls protested.

"I'll make a deal with you. If you do your chores now, we'll play a game all together afterwards, OK?"

"Will Kurama play as well?" Jeresa asked, puppy-eyed.

"I will," Kurama said, smiling.

"Yeah!" Jeresa jumped off his lap and swum to the door, followed by Meike. "Bye, see you soon!"

"Bye!" Ira waved.

"Cute girls."

"Yeah, but sometimes they can make you just want to throw something at them."

Kurama laughed. "Like you can hit them… They won't sit still, at least, not if they're not sitting on top of me. Have they always been like this?"

"I don't know," Ira admitted. "Since you-know-what, I take care of them. I'll never be able to replace their mothers, but at least I can try to do my best in the role as 'big sister'."

It was silent for a while, when Ira popped a question Kurama didn't see coming. "Why did you respond so late?"

"Late…?"

"Our tribe leader had predicted the attack a week before the actual attack took place. We warned Koenma, but he never contacted us…"

"He didn't…?"

"No…" Ira starred blankly to the ground in front of her.

"I'm really sorry," Kurama said with sad eyes.

"I believe you and you, I can forgive… You carry no blame. It's Koenma… He's the one who angers me. He could've prevented it! If only…" she sighed. "If only 'if's' could become reality… maybe then we could try to get our lives up and going again, without living in constant pain of loss and fear…"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yusuke gave the 'safe'-sign. Carefully looking around, he silently walked towards the sound of moving water.

"So, that is where they are?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yep…" Yusuke answered.

In front of them was a gigantic lake, shimmering in the sunlight. It was surrounded by grasslands for the first few dozen feet, then passing on to a forest. On the shore lay pebbles in more then a hundred different shades of brown and white, that sparkled in the sun.

"If so, why don't I feel them?"

"Did you feel them back in Ningenkai?" Hiei said, already knowing the answer.

"No, but…" Kuwabara tried to defended himself.

"But… but… Humans and their 'but's'."

"Shut up, shrimp!" Kuwabara yelled at the small fire-demon, who was sitting up in a tree.

"Don't yell, you baka. They'll notice this awful sound, known as what you call your voice."

Kuwabara couldn't let this insult get over his side, so he summoned his spirit sword and swung it at the tree-branch Hiei was sitting in. The demon, of course, disappeared in a blur, appearing again next to the orange-haired boy, giving him a hard blow to the head.

Kuwabara fell on the ground, clutching his head.

"What did you do that for?!" Yusuke yelled towards his human friend.

"Did what?" Kuwabara asked, clearly not understanding what he did wrong.

"With creating your sword, you raised your damn spirit energy. You blew our cover, you imbecile!" Yusuke yelled on top of his lungs.

"… Oops…"

"That's all you have to say…? Oops?" Yusuke leaded a hand trough his hair and sighed. "Well, all we can do now is wait. Approaching the lake now is too dangerous, since they know where we are, but not the other way around. We'll have to stay here, until one of them comes to us." He sat down, eyes fixed on the water, fully focusing on anything that might be a demon or demon-movement.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The little fish swum directly towards his eyes. He tried to avoid it, but didn't react fast enough. The fish dove down, into his hair and from there, getting inside his dark-green shirt.

"Ah! Get it out, get it out!" Kurama yelled laughing. Meike was rolling on the ground because of laughter and wasn't able to let the little fish dissolve again.

Ira grabbed his shoulders and gestured Kurama to stand still. The kitsune could feel her hand close to the skin of his back, but she didn't touch him. The moment her hand closed in on the fish of water, it stopped moving. When Ira let her hand go up, the fish followed, leading it out of Kurama's clothes. The little fish kept floating in the palm of her hand, but with a simple movement of her fingers, it fell apart.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Ira walked back to Jeresa, after putting the last of the shells both girls had collected on the table. "In just a few day's, we'll have enough shells to decorate our house," she said, getting on one knee to support herself. She took the piece of blue weed from Jeresa and started to bind the little girl's orange hair together in a high ponytail. She was about to lay the second knot in the weed, when her body froze.

"Is something wrong, Ira?" Jeresa asked carefully.

"Uh… What…? O, o… No, nothing is wrong."

"You're a horrible liar," Meike said, a little evil smile on her lips.

Ira made the second knot and stood up. "Meike, you watch Jeresa for me for a little while, OK?"

"Where are you going? Meike asked.

"Just to take care of some business," Ira replied. "And just to let you know, Kurama, there is no chance of escaping. As soon as I feel that your Ki is leaving the house, I'll commend the water to take you down. So no tricks or whatever when I'm gone."

Kurama nodded. He knew that trying to escape now would be a stupid mistake. He was still in Acire waters and an attempt to get away, would only lead to getting them angry.

Ira grabbed a ribbon out of one of the drawers. Kurama saw a little light ball hanging on it, one that she had used to light up the room as well. This one was really small, pea-sizes. She put the ribbon around her wrist and made sure it was tied so tight, that it couldn't fall of in any possible way.

She swum through the exit and placed her hands in front of it. The water started flowing roughly, which prevented the others inside the house from exiting. "I'll be back soon," Ira said, just before she swum off with great speed.

"That's strange…" Meike stated. "Normally, she isn't so stressed. Something must be really wrong if she doesn't want us to leave or anyone to get in. I wonder what's going on?"

Kurama wished he knew, but to him, it was a mystery as well. There was no reason at all for the girl to get so upset. There was no one around that could be of any threat. At least, he didn't feel anyone… Could she have felt something that he had missed, or did the water block energy-radiations from above the surface so he couldn't feel them, but the Acire, who lived in the water, could? In the current situation, that seemed the only possibility that was logical enough to his opinion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yusuke, Hiei and Kuwabara stood up as fast as they could, when they noticed the water moving unnaturally. Their eyes were fixed on the movement, ready just in case the creature was going to attack them.

Slowly emerging, the girl walked towards the shore. She had noticed the spirit detectives right away, they hadn't even tried to hide themselves. The sun on her skin felt strange. Ira remembered it from the kidnapping; the sun had burned the skin on her arms, because it wasn't used to so much exposure of the sun.

Kuwabara's mouth dropped, Yusuke stared and not even Hiei could fully mask his surprise. None of them had expected a girl, a young beautiful girl, to be the one that was responsible for their friend's kidnapping.

Ira ignored the stares she got, getting right to business. "So, I guess you're here because of your friend."

Yusuke snapped out of his trance and answered the girl. "Yes, we are. Where is he?"

Ira pointed at the lake, smiling. "Somewhere down there."

"We want him back," Kuwabara said, on the edge of yelling.

"You will get him back, eventually. In what amount of time and in what state, that will be up to you."

"Why you little…!" Kuwabara was getting really frustrated with the girl's answers.

Hiei watched the scene. 'I can see she's the planning one. Turning away blame for future things… She's up to something…'

"What is it that you want in return for his release?" Yusuke asked, trying to solve it the peaceful way.

"Nothing you can provide us."

"Us? So there is more then 1?" Yusuke questioned.

"Did it really took you that long to find out…?" Ira said with a grin on her face.

Yusuke wasn't about to let this girl run over him with her answers. "There is nothing we can do to get our friend back?"

"There could be something, but I know that you won't do as I would ask, so I'm not even wasting my time on trying something that is bound to fail. And now, I kindly request that you get back to your own realm, away from our territory."

"But, what about Kurama?!" Yusuke yelled.

"He's fine. He's unhurt, fed and in a good mood today, so don't worry about him. He's in less danger then you are right now, especially if you don't get out of here, now!"

"We are not leaving without the fox," Hiei said.

"I promise you'll get him back soon, unhurt," Ira said, looking Hiei in the eye, trying to make an arrangement to get the Reikai Tantei away form the lake. She knew that they could provide trouble. The youngest two Acire weren't able to defend themselves if anything should happen. "He'll be back in 2 days, if you leave now."

"Not in a million years!" Kuwabara yelled, no longer able to control his anger. In his right hand, his spirit sword appeared.

"No, don't!" Yusuke screamed, but it was too late. Kuwabara had already sprinted towards the water-demon.

"I tried to do this the peaceful way, but if you want to fight, you leave me no choice," Ira whispered softly, an strange vibe in her voice. The wind stopped moving, the water of the lake became wild. High upcoming waves tossed a blanket of small water drops on the land. In Ira's aqua eyes, the colors stopped swirling around and they started to become deep ocean-blue. She took a fighting position, eyes fixed on her opponent.

Kuwabara was closing in. He lifted his sword, ready to let it hit the Acire with as much strength as he could.

The Acire girl was ready to take him down in order to protect herself, her last remaining fellow Acire, temporary home but mostly, to protect her goal: revenge for the loss of her people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N **Sorry, a cliff-hanger this time. It was to long to put it in 1 chapter. In the next, you will read how the fight between Kuwabara and Ira will develop. But for now, please review! Please? ::puppy eyes::


	6. Calm Stream Or Raging River?

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N **Thank you all reviewers! I love you all! And here it is, chapter 6! O my, I can't remember ever writing or typing a story this long, actually getting it to be a real story O.o Sorry, just some self-statement… Now I'll shut up and let the story begin!

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters, except for the Acire. Those will always be mine

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 6: Calm Stream or raging River?**

"No, don't!" Yusuke screamed, but it was too late. Kuwabara had already sprinted towards the water-demon.

"I tried to do this the peaceful way, but if you want to fight, you leave me no choice," Ira whispered softly, an strange vibe in her voice. The wind stopped moving, the water of the lake became wild. High upcoming waves tossed a blanket of small water drops on the land. In Ira's aqua eyes, the colors stopped swirling around and they started to become deep ocean-blue. She took a fighting position, eyes fixed on her opponent.

Kuwabara was closing in. He lifted his sword, ready to let it hit the Acire with as much strength as he could.

The Acire girl was ready to take him down in order to protect herself, her last remaining fellow Acire, temporary home but mostly, to protect her goal: revenge for the loss of her people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the rock on the plain on the bottom of the lake he had watched it all. He kept a close eye on the little house and especially on the demon inside of it. Unlike his elder, he didn't trust the Youko.

'As long as she protects him, there is nothing I can do.' He grinned. 'But I'll give my own turn to this all. I'll keep to her rules, but with a little twist. This guy… she knew I was watching them, he has her full protection. Too bad…'

He turned his attention to the water. It was flowing more roughly to the west, the wrong direction for this time of day. The grin on his face widened. 'I hope the guy she's fighting dug his grave, because he doesn't stand a chance against Ira, defiantly not now she's in a 'protecting mood'.'

Sarchi laid down. All was going as Ira planned. It was hard or him to admit, but her theory was right. Soon the second phase of her plan would start. That was the moment he was waiting for, his one chance to try to make things go a little more his way. He knew Ira would get pissed, but at least he had eased his mind.

Frowning, Sarchi started to think of the best way to change the plan to his wishes, but even more, how to tell Ira he had changed it and getting out of the situation unharmed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kuwabara was fast, but far from fast enough to hit the Acire. When trying to hit her, she had dogged his attack like it was child's play. She easily jumped to the right side of him, quickly dogging the next attack he threw at her.

For a little while it continued this way, Kuwabara charging, Ira avoiding.

"She's playing with him!"

"You think that's strange?" Hiei said. "She's a water-demon. In water, you move more slowly than in air. A demon who is fast in water, is even faster on land."

"Logic enough," Yusuke said, looking concerned, "but why doesn't she attack? Is she waiting for him to give up or get tired or something?"

For his answer he didn't had to wait long. Ira jumped, creating some distance between herself and her opponent, taking a defensive position, one the Reikai Tantei knew, one only used when they weren't going to avoid the next attack.

Kuwabara noticed this at well and used this opportunity for one more full out attack.

Ira saw him coming, putting her left hand a little to the back, concentrating on the detective's movement. She was ready for him.

He jumped, sword up high. With him coming down, the sword of energy came down as well. Ira didn't put up her arms to defend herself, she stood, unmoved as a mountain. This caused her to be fully hit on shoulder by the sword. Her hair moved, because of the wind flow the hit had created. Her skin, most correctly the entire part of her shoulder was… wrinkling…?

"What the…?" Yusuke couldn't believe his eyes. No blood, no visible damage. The sword had entered her body part, but there was no sign it had happened.

"You could've predicted this," Hiei stated. "They are creatures from water… And you can't destroy water by hitting or cutting it."

"They are… untouchable…?" Yusuke asked, a small sign of fear in his voice.

Kuwabara jumped back in total shock. Fear and amazement were all over his face.

Ira noticed this. Her normal calm smile turned in an evil grin. 'Time to turn things around.' With great speed, she swung her left arm forwards.

Kuwabara thought he saw her throw something, but much time for thinking wasn't given to him, since almost the same moment he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. When he looked, he saw that there was a deep cut from which some blood dripped.

When he turned his head to the girl again, he saw she was making some strange moves. She made a big circle with her left arm, ending straight in front of her. Next, it seemed like she was motioning from someone to go towards her.

From the ground rose a few strings of water, floating back to Ira. When they reached her, they mixed with her hand, vanishing like they never excited.

"I'll give you one last chance. Get back to your own world and no harm will befall you and your friend."

"Never!" The human wasn't about to quit, because of some cut on his arm. It was nothing compared to other injuries he had gotten during other fights, like those in the Dark Tournament.

"Then you leave me no choice…" Ira looked to her right arm: the light ball was still there on the ribbon. 'Let's do this.' She stood up straight. "I'll try to make this not too painful." She closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could.

Yusuke smacked himself in the face, hoping that he would wake up form the dream, that what he saw happening wasn't real, but the Acire stayed, just as the dumb-struck Kuwabara. The scene playing for his eyes was something like he'd never seen before.

Ira's mouth, eyes, her entire face was becoming vague. Her body lost any form of solid structure, becoming like a liquid. Yusuke could've sworn he was able to see trough her.

As Kuwabara stood still from shock, Ira saw her chance to end the fight.

The water of the lake behind her became even wilder then before, tossing a giant wave. The exact moment the water started to spread over the ground in small drops, Ira shot her right arm forwards with tremendous speed, while she remained in the same position. Her liquid arm stretched on and on, becoming thinner as it got further away from her body. She had carefully aimed and hit her target directly: Kuwabara's arm, or more precisely, his wound. Her arm entered the wound, a large part of it disappearing inside the human.

Kuwabara screamed, but it sounded a bit muffled, since he fainted almost the next moment. Once he had hit the ground, Ira withdrew her arm from the wound, getting it back to normal proportions. Before it became really clear what she had done, her body turned solid again.

"I'd warned you, but you wouldn't listen…" Ira turned to the two other boys, who were unable to move because of surprise and not-knowing-what-to-do-ness. "He'll be OK…" she said with a soft voice, gesturing towards Kuwabara, slowly turning away from the sight. "Eventually…"

A huge wave washed the shore, breaking as it reached the pebbles. The water fell over the girl and when it withdrew, she was gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In just a few seconds Ira reached the house again, but before entering she swum to the nearby rock. "The first part is complete. Prepare to go on with phase two."

"Will do," Sarchi answered her.

"Good. Now that's done, we don't need the Youko anymore. I'll take him back to shore, so he can join his friends."

"Do whatever you want."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kuwabara. Come on, say something!" Yusuke yelled, shaking his fainted friend. "Damn it! What did she do to him?"

Hiei watched the human, next he fixed his eyes on the lake.

"We need to take him back to the human world. Maybe Yukina can heal him, now we don't have Kurama to do that. Great… There goes our second team member…" Yusuke said.

"We'll stay here."

"Huh?" Yusuke looked up, surprised. "But… why?"

"Because I have a feeling that there's more to this all that we suspect. If they wanted to harm any of us, they would've killed Kurama back in Ningenkai, so the baka is probably in no danger."

"And the reason why we have to wait is…?"

"That I have the feeling there'll happen something more really soon."

"And you say that? What are you, some kind of psychic? O wait… You are…"

"Hn."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The roughly streaming water calmed down. The three demons inside of the house looked up and watched Ira enter.

"Hai!" Meike greeted her caretaker. "Now that you're back, will you tell us what you did?"

Kurama looked at the aqua-haired girl. Something had changed, but he didn't know what. He scanned her body completely, from hair to toes. Then it struck him. The light ball she took with her on the ribbon before she'd left: it was gone. The dark green ribbon was still tied around her arm, but the pea-sized ball was missing.

"No, since it's none of your business." Ira took off the ribbon and turned to Kurama. "We're going."

"What? Kurama is leaving?" Meike asked.

"Yes."

Kurama didn't know what to say. Something had happened where he had no knowledge of and now, she had decided to let him go, just like that?

"We don't have much time. Come on!"

"Bye Kurama," Jeresa said softly.

"Bye Jeresa," he said, stroking the young girl's head. Next he turned to the pink-haired girl and waved. "Bye Meike."

Ira reached her hand to him. The redhead took it and before he knew right and well what was going on, Ira pulled him along, away from the house.

"Do you think we'll ever see him again?" Jeresa asked with a shaky voice.

"I really don't know…" Meike replied, biting her lip.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were near the surface, he could see it. The light became stronger every second.

Ira stopped swimming and turned to the Youko. "If you go right up, you'll reach the surface in half a minute. Just half a minute more swimming and you'll reach the shore, you'll see it once you're above the water level. There's a portal nearby."

"Can't you show me where it is?" Kurama asked, not sure he knew where to search for the passage.

"I don't need to lead you to it," Ira said, kindly smiling. "Your friends will take you there."

"My friends?" His teammates came for him? Had she met them, when she rushed of in a hurry? "You've seen them?"

"Yes."

They stared each other in the eyes for a while, but after some time Ira broke the silence. "You really need to get going. They are waiting. And tell your friend, the orange-haired one… What was his name again…?"

"Kuwabara."

"Tell Kuwabara that I'm really sorry for what I did, but he left me no other option." She let go of his hand and gently smiled. "Maybe we'll meet again someday. Goodbye Kurama…" The water drifted the two demons apart, leading Kurama to the surface and Ira back to the depts.

"Goodbye Ira!" he said loudly, just before the girl faded away from his eye side.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Look!" Hiei pointed to the water.

Yusuke looked up. In the distance some red hair had appeared above the water. Immediately he recognized the Ki. "Kurama!"

The redhead walked to the shore. Once he was half way above the water, he felt like a blanket was lifted up and removed from his body. He knew the water bubble Ira had made him had disappeared. But his attention quickly changed when he saw Kuwabara laying on the ground.

"Kurama!" Yusuke ran towards him. "Are you alright? Have they done anything…"

"No… no. They treated me really kindly," he said, interrupting Yusuke.

Yusuke stared at his friend like he was some madman.

"Honestly! But what happened to Kuwabara?"

"One of those damned Acire attacked him. I don't know what she did, but he was out cold in just a few seconds."

"The Acire with the aqua hair?"

"Yep, that one. Man, she was like a little devil!"

Kurama tried really hard to picture Ira as a devil, but didn't succeed. He gave up practically immediately. "Let me take a look at Kuwabara. Maybe I can help him."

He walked towards his friend and studied his body. There were no wounds, bruises or torn clothing, expect for the cut on his arm. 'Out cold, with one cut…?' Clearly he was far from knowing what capabilities Ira had. "I suggest we take him back to Genkai's temple. I can't do anything now. I need to take a better look, and maybe Yukina can help me."

"Then lets going!" Yusuke picked up Kuwabara and Kurama helped him to put him in a stable position for transportation. Yusuke looked grateful to his friend and softly said smiling: "Glad you're back."

"Me too," Kurama said.

They started walking towards the portal, but when Hiei turned around he noticed his just returned friend looking back to the lake with a sad smile, before walking on, back to Ningenkai.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N **Woot! There it is! Chapter 6! I hope you enjoyed it and please review! I'd love to hear what you think of it!


	7. Conflict and Questions

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N: **Chapter 7!!! Kurama is back, but now Kuwabara is down. The story continues from here!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters, except for (you see it coming) the Acire.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Chapter 7: Conflict and Questions**

The group was gathered around the boy, who laid on the white-sheeted bed. Yusuke had removed Kuwabara's coat, so Kurama and Yukina had a better view of the injuries, and had tossed it in the corner of the yellow-stone room. The others watched as the Koorime and Youko tried to find a way to get Kuwabara back up again.

"Let me get this straight. She first caused this cut and after that she _entered _him,"

Yusuke nodded. "She was in some kind of liquid form and attacked from a distance. None of us saw it coming."

Kurama thought about the situation his friend told him and took an even closer look. There were no other bruises, or at least no visible ones. "I can only draw one conclusion: she entered him and caused some damage inside, wounds that we can not see from the outside."

"A very interesting and dangerous maneuver…" Genkai thought out loud. "How is his situation?"

"Stabile. He doesn't appear to be in some state in which we should fear for his life. It looks more like a shock condition," Kurama said, looking at his friend. If someone told him Kuwabara was asleep, he would've believed it.

"I could try to heal his damaged organs," Yukina said. "I'll work from the wound, following the path she took while inside him."

"I think that's the best option this moment," Kurama agreed. "As long as there is no specific point that I should heal, most of my plants aren't suitable for this work. Your healing powers are more fit for the job."

Yukina nodded and got on her knees next to the bed and placed her hands close to the wound. As soon as she closed her crimson red eyes, a light bluish glow surrounded her and slowly the glow was spreading out over Kuwabara's body as well.

The others who were present in the room stood back to give her some room to work and to prevent that any of them maybe disturbed the healing process.

For a few long minutes the room was dead quiet, it would be possible to hear a needle falling. The Reikai Tantei watched Yukina do her thing. Nothing seemed to be changing if one would look at the body, but the spirit detectives could sense from Yukina's Ki, which rose with the time she was sitting on the ground, that something was happening.

The silence was broken, when Yukina withdrew her hands from Kuwabara's arm. "This is the best I could do." She looked towards the waiting persons, who all carried a curious expression on their face, even Hiei, wanting to know what kind of injuries she had found. She took a deep breath. "I started with the arm, next I searched for inconsistencies in the head and upper body and last the other limbs. In the head and limbs there was no damage at all and in the torso only two small ones: a little cut in the right kidney and a bruised spleen."

"That's all?" Yusuke asked, not believing that those little injuries could knock Kuwabara into the big world of the black.

"Well, there was one more thing I noticed. The energy flow inside him… It seemed different from the other times I had healed him… There was a little disturbance, I don't know what. I tried to find it, but I didn't find anything unnatural. I don't know what to think of it…"

"Disturbance? Does it have any kind of influence on his body functions?" Genkai asked.

"No, I don't think so. Everything seems to be working normal. The change could just as well been from the fact he fainted. Maybe some strange hormone production, but nothing too serious I believe.

"Will he fully restore?" Kurama asked, wanting to get a better view of the current situation.

"O, he'll be fine. All the wounds are healed. Kuwabara-san will wake up soon, could be any minute. I think it was the shock that did the most damage," Yukina said smiling.

"That's good to hear. Now… We'll leave him alone in here, we'll notice when he wakes up. In the time he's still in the land of dreamers, we can do some other things than sitting here being useless," Genkai said, looking down on Kuwabara. She turned around and walked to the door with her hands behind her back. "I'll inform Koenma about what has happened and after that, we'll drink some tea."

'Why does the old hag always have to drink tea? Tea?! Is she English or something?' Yusuke thought annoyed.

Hiei followed Genkai and walked out the room, soon to be followed by Kurama and Yukina. Just before he exited the room Kurama turned around towards his friend and said: "There's nothing you can do for him now. Come on, let's go get some fresh air."

Yusuke looked one more time at his fainted friend. "Alright, but no walks and no lemon tea."

Kurama smiled and let his friend exit before he left the room.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ira looked full of doubt at her fellow Acire. Meike was teaching Jeresa how to braid and both had a great time, Meike finally playing the role of the smarter one and Jeresa at last learning to do the thing she had wanted to learn for a few days. However, it weren't the girls that drew her attention. Sarchi was in the room as well, sitting quietly in a corner. _That _concerned her.

For this she had multiple reasons. The first was that Sarchi wasn't a thinker, he preferred acting. He would never think about something longer then 15 minutes, but he had been sitting there for more then an hour already. Second, if he would think, it wouldn't be inside the house with his fellow Acire. He was more of a loner. If Sarchi had the choice, he would be far, far away from the company and especially from Ira. The third and last point, the most important and leader for Ira's questioning thoughts, was the fact he wasquiet. He was never quiet near her. He always found something to argue about, to try to get her on her knees for once in a discussion. Counting all the facts together she had all the reason to suspect that something was going on.

'Should I ask?' she thought. She wanted to know what was going on, but it was the first time since they moved to this lake that all the Acire had been in the house at the same time and the atmosphere was pleasant. She didn't want to ruin it for the young girls, who had asked Ira more then once when the fighting would stop, but something inside was dying to find out Sarchi's thoughts.

Jeresa rubbed her left eye and started scratching the area around it with her little hand. Meike looked at her 'student', before calling her caretaker: "Ira! Jeresa is scratching again!"

"Time for the medicine already…?" she sighed. Her questions had to wait. She swum to the orange-haired girl and picked her up. After a careful inspection of her left eye, Ira drew the conclusion that the skin was re-growing and the little red spots were slowly fading away. "The last phase of the healing process has started. Just a few more days and it'll be gone."

Jeresa smiled happily when she heard the news. The wound near her eye had bothered her for a long time and kept reminding her of the night she had gotten the injury.

"You'll need some other medication for this stage… Come on, let's go find it," Ira suggested.

"Yeah!" Jeresa spun round of joy, causing her light-green dress to get a round shape.

"Jeresa! I'm leaving without you if you don't follow…" Ira was already half way out the door and the excited young girl, who didn't want to be left behind, swum as fast as she could to Ira, clutching her slim hand.

"No, I'm coming!" Jeresa squealed.

Ira smiled and said to the two remaining Acire in the house: "Meike, you'd behave, OK? Sarchi…?

"Hm?"

"You'll keep an eye on Meike, alright?"

"Fine…"

'Note to myself… I really need to find out what he's thinking about.' "Well, we're going. We'll be back soon!" Together the water-demons left to find some new plants that were needed for the medicines they needed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This was the moment the Acire boy had been waiting for. Meike and he were the ones that were supposed to carry out phase two. The plan was ready, now all he had to do was to put some pressure on the girl, so she would cooperate.

Meike could see Sarchi grinning in the corner of her eye. She didn't too feel comfortable near him in his current state and she had the feeling that something she wouldn't like was about to happen. All she could do was hope that Ira got back soon.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yusuke sighed. 'When does this guy wake up…? He has been sleeping for hours now!' He had been sitting in Genkai's temple for a few hours, waiting for Kuwabara to wake up and he was getting tired of it, but his friend still hadn't moved a muscle.

Genkai walked in with a tray with 6 cups of tea on it. The cups steamed and produced a smell Yusuke didn't like.

'No, don't let it be true!' But it was. In front of him, Genkai place a cup of lemon tea. 'Why…? Why lemon…?'

"Genkai-san, why are there 6 cups?" Yukina asked. "We are only with five."

"Because Botan will be over shortly to ask some questions. Koenma almost fainted of shock when I informed him of the happenings."

"And he sends Botan to do his dirty works," Yusuke grumbled.

"Maybe that's because Lord Koenma is a busy man and he can't deal with everything in person," a slightly annoyed voice said near the entrance.

"Come in, Botan," Genkai said without looking up. "Glad that you were able to get here so soon. Sit down and have some tea. We have much to talk about."

The blue-haired girl walked in and sat down on the chair facing Yusuke's. She gave him a glare, but, much to Yusuke's relieve, resisted the urge to hit him on the head with her oar.

"OK, now that we're all here, lets start with getting all the fact." Genkai looked at the company. "I want to know everything we now know about the Acire, so we have some insight in how they think and work. That will be the first step to predicting what they're upcoming actions will be…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meike tried to push herself in the corner of the house, one hand clutching her gray skirt, her other hand near her face, ready to protect herself if her observer was going to hit her. A few curly locks hung over her face, her pink eyes full of fear, locked on Sarchi, who approached her.

He grinned. "You can't get away, Meike… There's no place to hide." He squatted near the girl and looked her straight in the eyes. "Now, I want to hear you say it. Say you'll do as I told you, you will follow my plan."

Meike saw the hardness in Sarchi's eyes, gray and unmoving, like stone. With a shaky voice she answered the older Acire. "B… But Ir… Ira said…"

"Ira!" He hit the wall hard with his right fist just inches away from the young girl's face, who curled up from shock and fear. The wall showed cracks after he'd hit it. Sarchi yelled, causing the girl to get only more frightened. "Ira nothing! That good-for-nothing tile of cleaning water!" He stopped his yelling and got closer to the girl, narrowing his eyes he whispered: "She has nothing to say about what I have to do. She has no control or power what so ever. And if you don't do as I told you, Meike… I'll be forced to end your little life, since in that case you know too much."

She shivered. "Please don't…" she begged him.

"If you cooperate… and keep your mouth shut! Ira is never allowed to know what we're going to do and what has been said here. If I find out you did tell her, I'll know where to find you…" He stood up and sat down in his corner again, the one across Meike, keeping his eyes focused on her.

Lowering her pink eyes, Meike tried to fight the tears. The last time she had felt so horrible was the day her parent were killed, but back then, it was Ira who pulled her out of her misery. Now, she was left all alone to deal with the situation, one in which she had to betray the one that had given her a new home, this time she had to leave all the values she knew behind. While thinking about what she had to do now, tears flooded from her eyes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't know if I should trust this information," Yusuke said.

"Why not? Kurama got it right from the Acire themselves," Yukina replied.

"Well, who says they weren't lying?"

"Believe me, it is the truth. I could see it in their eyes," Kurama defended his contribution.

"So, we can beat the Acire by closing their eyes?" Yusuke sighed. "That's crap! No demon can be beaten just by covering their eyes with something!"

"Are you sure?" Botan asked. "Back in the Ithara Sea all the Acire were blindfolded, remember?"

"I don't want to remember…" Yusuke mumbled. Pictures of the scene flew through his mind, shots he had wanted to get out of his daily thinking.

"Well, it is very important that we use this info nonetheless. If it is true," Genkai said, "it'll be of some help. If there's no other option, at least we have some strategy up our sleeves."

The conversation was interrupted by a sudden rise of a nearby Ki. All of the persons in the room recognized it immediately.

"So, our sleeping friend has finally awoken," Genkai grinned. "Let's go and say 'good afternoon'."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We're back!" Ira entered the room with Jeresa dancing circles around her. "We got what we need for the mediation." She put a bundle of dark green weed on the table. "I think this will be enough for the next week."

Sarchi stood up and started swimming away. Just before he exited the house he said: "I don't think you'll need me anymore here. I'll be around here somewhere if you really need me."

"OK." Ira didn't bother to look at him. This was the normal way of their communication. Apparently her suspicions before were wrong, Sarchi seemed to be behaving normal now. She turned to the other girl. "Meike, do you want to help me with grinding the plants?

No reply. "Meike?" she looked at the young girl, who was still curled up to a ball in the corner.

Ira approached her and stroke her face. "He, is something wrong?" After the shortest look in Meike's pink eyes Ira could see that something was really out of order. "Meike, have you been crying? You can tell me…"

Meike didn't answer. She lifted her eyes from the ground, staring into Ira's aqua orbs. Her eyes burned again and in a wave of emotions, sadness, anger, despair, she threw her arms around Ira's neck and started to cry with her face buried in her shoulder.

Ira embraced the girl and held her tight. While stroking the girls pink hair, her eye fell on the cracks in the wall. She knew Meike wasn't strong enough to cause that kind of damage. Sarchi was behind this. All her suspicions came showing up again. The situation was getting harder and harder to control, so that moment she decided to keep an even closer eye on the 'family' and especially on Sarchi. Ira was not about to let everything slip away, getting everything destroyed by one person.

The same moment Ira thought about what Sarchi was up to, Meike started crying even harder. She wanted to throw all her feelings, everything that was on her mind out, but she couldn't. The one person she could trust unconditional was the person, who was now the last she was allowed to tell her secret. Meike had never felt so lonely before in her entire life, as on that moment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N **Chapter 7! I know, no big changes, but this is the intro to the next part, the step to Phase 2. Please review! Please?


	8. Frozen

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N: **O my… It has been far too long since I updated. I am sooooo sorry. Please forgive me! T.T I hope this (very, very long O.o ) chapter will make up for all your waiting. Phase two of the Acire plan will be preformed in this chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or the characters, except for (dum-da-dum) the Acire. Neither do I own the song that in this chapter. It a song called 'The never-ending story', by Within Temptation.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Frozen**

'Too soon…' Ira thought. She turned her head and looked at the pink-haired girl, who was still quietly sniffing. 'Apparently I underestimated the human's healing ability. He should have been out cold for more than a day, not a few hours…' She rested her head in the palm of her right hand. 'But he could have been healed by the kitsune. After all, his plants have many uses.' The oldest Acire tilted her head to the left, removing the hand from under her chin. 'I don't think Meike is ready yet. She still looks so sad, but she won't tell me what's bothering her. My bet… Sarchi has something to do with it.'

Ira hung her head, for the first time she had trouble making a decision. 'I can't send them to go on with the next phase. I just can't let Meike go with Sarchi. He won't tolerate any kind of weakness, no emotion or anything else that might endanger the mission. I have no telling in what he might do when he's alone with her and she breaks…Poor Meike. Going on such a mission requires of one that they act without doubt and without struggling with their own emotions. In her current state she's barely able to feel free in her own thoughts, let alone being able to be as unmovable as a trough in the ocean.'

With a sigh Ira buried her hands in her long aqua hair, not noticing that her escaping breath drew the attention of two sets of large round eyes. Sparkling purple and foggy pink looked with question to the aqua water appearance. They both couldn't help but see the doubt. Ira's strong appearance looked like it was crumbling and was replaced by a new face, a face with signs of weariness, a face the girls had never witnessed before.

'But I can't postpone the mission and even if I tried to let it take place tomorrow or the day after that, Sarchi wouldn't allow it. He would come with arguments and facts that I can't deny, because it were those arguments that I used to get this whole plan up and going. The only way we can make sure our plan works, is to act now, now the human is awake and the other servants of the Reikai are with him. This is the only chance we've got, the thing we have been working to from the day that…'

Ira grinded her teeth. There they were again; the screams, those blood-curdling screams inside her head. They had been screaming ever since she escaped the Acire village in the Ithara Sea living. Every day, every hour, every minute. She never told the other Acire this and had never shown how much those voices were paining her soul, and she wouldn't give in now either! She was the oldest, the one responsible for the survival of her race. The elder had to be wise and calm at all time, so the followers didn't panic, her calmness had to reassure the people around her. 'I am the oldest, the leader of my people. I had never thought that I might had to take this task. I was young, one of the younger ones. It wasn't even appropriate to think that I might ever be the oldest of my race! I'm still a child myself, only 34 years old. ((**A/N **Acire are children until they are 37 years old and can live for a couple of centuries, just to let you know :) )) How can I ever replace our formal leader, the wise Triare? With her age of 814 years and gift of clear foresight, she was the most honored person in our tribe, she's the only leader I have ever had. She was so kind, so inspiring…' Ira's face tensed. 'I can never replace her, never! I don't have the qualities and the strength to be a leader! All I can do is try to act wise and to keep the memory of Triare alive by doing what she would have wanted that would happen like I have done before with Kurama… and I believe that she would have wanted that the mission would take place… for the safety of the entire tribe!'

Without lifting her eyes from the ground she spoke with a soft voice to Meike, who was still looking at her. "The time has come. Prepare yourself, Meike. You and Sarchi are leaving within half an hour."

Hearing this, Meike turned her head to the ground and resisted more tears from falling. All that she had left to do was waiting for Sarchi, who was somewhere near the plain where they lived, to come before she would set out to do what she was told.

Ira raised her head and looked with her eyes half closed to the ceiling of the stone and clay house. The uneven surface reminded her of the way the Ithara Sea used to flow, when she would play near the surface with the waves. 'So, I guess this is it then… Please, let the decision I made be the right one.'

* * *

"Waaaaaaahhh…" 

"Oh, please spare me and cover your mouth. I can see what you've been eating yesterday!" Yusuke grinned.

"Ow, shut up, Urameshi! Can't a guy yawn anymore these days?" Kuwabara complained. He stretched his arms above his head and took a deep breath. After that he lowered his arms and started rubbing his eyes.

"How do you feel?" asked the green-eyed kitsune.

"Fine, just a bit stiff and…" Kuwabara swallowed his words back in when he recognized his friend's voice. His eyes grew twice their size when he stared at his friend, who was kindly smiling like nothing had happened. "Ku… Kurama…? You… But…" He looked around, dazzled and confused. "What… What happened?"

"Remember your fight with Ira?" Kurama asked.

"Who?"

"The Acire girl with the long aqua hair and big aqua eyes." Yusuke explained.

"Vaguely…"

"She overwhelmed you with one of her techniques, making you faint," Genkai told.

"Oh yes, I remember that! That crazy woman!" Kuwabara clenched his fist. "Who does she think she is, putting herself into me, like… like fries in ketchup!"

"That must be the most stupid comparison I've ever heard," Hiei said with his face turned away.

"Shut up, you shrimp! I didn't ask for your opinion!" Kuwabara yelled.

"What did you call me!" Hiei's face tensed and he glared daggers at the human who dared to make fun of his size.

"Shrimp, shrimp! Are you deaf?" Kuwabara said, throwing more oil on the fire.

"Within just a few seconds, you won't just be deaf, you won't even have a head on your shoulders!" the black-clothed demon growled, unsheathing his katana.

Kuwabara became quiet and swallowed. 'O-oh…'

"Now now, don't do anything rash, Hiei." Kurama said, trying to cool down the fire demon's hot temper. "You know Koenma is going to throw you in the Reikai prison if you kill Kuwabara."

"Hn." The kitsune had a point. There was no way in all three worlds that Hiei would go to that place. Too many spirits… He sheathed his katana and went to stand in a corner of the room against the wall, arms crossed and eyes closed.

All the others present in the room sighed with relieve and if they didn't do it out loud, it was defiantly hearable in their minds.

"OK, where were we…?" Genkai said. "Ah yes! After the fight, when you had fainted, the Acire released Kurama and returned him to us."

"Just like that?" Kuwabara said unbelieving.

"Just like that," Kurama replied.

"That doesn't make sense! Why would those creatures first kidnap you, only to let you go so easily?" the human thought up loud.

"I don't know," Kurama emitted. "Ira hasn't told me anything about the reason for letting me go when she brought me to you."

"Ira. That Acire again! You speak of her like she's your friend!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Trust me, she's not my friend," Kurama said, trying to ease the human.

"But why do you speak so friendly about her? She freaking kidnapped you!"

"I speak friendly of her, because she has been very kind to me during my stay in the lake."

"Kurama. You talk about this whole situation like it was a holiday," Yusuke said, glaring at the kitsune with his eyes half-closed.

"Yusuke, trust me. I didn't think of it as a holiday and I was quite aware of the dangerous position that I was in, but I can't deny that I have been treated polite and with respect."

"Ow, come on! Like those creatures would know anything about that!"

"Yes, they do, Yusuke. They treated me as an equal. You may not believe it, but I could sense that the kindness was real. The way they talked to me, how they acted…"

"Kurama, please, this is…"

The kitsune didn't let his brown-eyed friend finish his sentence. "Look, they even brought food with them, food from the human world… For me."

"Was it good?" Yusuke turned around and gave Botan a glare. "What! I just want to know if it tasted good!"

"Yes Botan," Kurama said, slightly laughing. "It was OK."

"Still, it doesn't mean anything!" Kuwabara said loudly, continuing the discussion.

"Yes it does. They cared enough to go trough some trouble, considering they're demons that have never been in the human world, just to get this food for me."

"Maybe," Hiei remarked, still standing in his corner, "but it's possible they brought it to keep you alive, because they needed you for something."

"Maybe," Kurama emitted, "but if they needed me for something, I already must have done what they were after. Why else let me go? What ever it is, it's not about me anymore."

"That, or they have another use for you," Botan stated and with that she said the first smart thing of her day.

"Like what?" Kurama questioned.

"I don't know, but you never know what they are thinking," the ferry-girl said.

"I don't care," Yusuke growled. "I still don't trust them."

* * *

Ira patted the young girl on the head, twisting her fingers in the soft pink curls. "Are you ready?" 

Meike slowly nodded.

"Then it's time to get going," Sarchi said with a low voice, standing in the door opening with his arms crossed. "We don't wanna be late and lose sight of our 'guide'."

"There's plenty of time left," Ira said reassuring. To anyone it would sound like she was saying it to Sarchi, but in reality the words were said to ease the younger girl, who was slightly shaking by the nerves. "They're still all together."

"Maybe now, but perhaps not for long," Sarchi said, closing his eyes.

"I know, but before you go..." Ira kneeled and looked Meike in the eyes. "… I want you to have this." In her hand she held a cord with a soft-orange shell on it. The edges were smooth and the surface gently wavy and soft. "I got this shell from a friend, a long time ago for my 20th birthday. Hana was her name. She had a way with making things. This shell is very special. She polished it, so that when the light is just right, it will glitter with all the colors of the rainbow." Ira sighed, closing her eyes and pressing the shell to her heart. Old memories, but the future wouldn't wait. She reopened her eyes and looked into Meike's eyes, her aqua orbs full with warmth and kindness. "It always brought me luck or helped me to get through difficult times when I needed it. Now I want you to have it." Ira reached her hand, the shell in the palm of her opened hand.

Meike stared with disbelief, first to Ira's hand, next into her eyes. 'Why, how can she entrust me with this? This shell… It's the most valuable object she possesses, the one thing that she has left from her best friend. The only thing left of what once was their friendship… now that…after that night… Why… Why give it to me?'

Almost like she could read her mind, Ira said: "This was a gift from her to me, but now I want it to be a gift from me to you. Hana and I… we shared great times. We were as close as friends could get. This shell is the symbol of that friendship. It was… well… the object of our bond. When we had an argument, I just had to see the surface of the material sparkle and I was immediately reminded of all the good and bad things we had been trough together. It always made me feel, that I wasn't alone, that there was always someone I could count on. That everything would be alright." Ira looked deep into the young girl's eyes. "It gave me hope when I felt lost and alone. No matter what happened... Everything would be alright." She stroke the girl's cheek.

"I don't want to interrupt your little speech, but we should really be going now!" Sarchi growled annoyed.

Ira didn't reply to his incentive. Instead she took Meike's little hand in hers and placed the shell gently in the open palm. "It will all be alright… No matter what happens…"

* * *

The little house faded away in the distance. Side on side, Meike and Sarchi swum trough the lake, to the portal that would lead them to their destination. 

Meike, while swimming, tied the cord with the shell on her waist, which shattered the light into all colors one could imagine as she laid the second knot in the cord. It gave her mixed feelings. A part of her still felt guilty about her accepting the shell, which had been very important to Ira, but on the other hand washed the soft-orange object away most of her fears. 'It feels almost like a piece of Ira is with me, watching over me. Taking away my fears. Making sure I'll be alright. I can almost feel her here with me.'

'That ignorant good-for-nothing… Bleh! She suspects something. Damn you, Ira! Even if you yourself decide to stay far away from the scene where the most important happening will take place, you still want to keep your control. Meike doesn't know it, but I do, and you know I do, don't you? You had this little piece of crap, this stupid shell, with you for so long, practically always in contact with your body, that it contains part of your energy. Through this shell, you will always be able to sense how the person is doing who is wearing it.' Sarchi grinded his teeth. 'You took away a great part of my control that I had over Meike, you gave her hope, comfort and a reason to resist me and besides that a precaution measure to make sure I can't harm her, because then you'll know. And that is why I detest you, Ira! You comfort them, but are trying to restrain me! Do I not have the right of peace of mind, the right of a new start? Why are you building their new life, but are you destroying mine?'

"Look, the portal." Meike pointed in the distance. "It's not that far anymore now…"

"Good." 'You can't stop me now, not this time, Ira. I will do this my way, I will have my revenge, and nothing is going to stand in my way!'

* * *

"Ira… Is something wrong?" 

"No… No, I'm fine." Ira had taken Sarchi place at the doorpost and was leaning against it, staring in the distance. Her eyes looked sad with dominance of the blue-grayish color and the slow movement.

"Are you sure?" Jeresa looked around the corner, her eyes big and questioning.

"I'm fine, Jeresa. Trust me."

Jeresa tilted her head and gave a little glare, which made her look cute instead of threatening, telling Ira that she knew that it wasn't true.

'Honestly!" Ira said, widely smiling. "It's just that…" she sighed and looked to the distance again, "this is such a big step. If all things go as I planned, we can start our lives all over again soon, all problems will be solved. However, if something goes wrong, there's a good chance things will turn for the worst."

"But nothing will go wrong, right? I mean, Sarchi and Meike will do as you planned, not?"

"Of course," Ira said, more to calm the girl than to her own belief. 'Sarchi, you'd better not try anything. I know you're up to something and if I find out it endangers anyone of the tribe, I swear you will pay for it!' "Everything will be alright…"

* * *

"This is ridicules! What is wrong with you!" Yusuke was screaming his lungs out towards his friend, who just told him something else he had heard while he stayed at the Acire's place. "Kurama, have they brain-washed you?" 

"Yusuke, calm down…"

"Calm down? Calm down! You are freaking turning the blame of a mass murder to the Reikai… To us!"

"That is not what I say, Yusuke!" Kurama returned slightly irritated. "It is not our fault, but Koenma's."

"I don't believe it!" yelled Botan. "Lord Koenma would have done anything to prevent this from happening! How dare they accuse Lord Koenma! If they could blame anyone, it would be the demons that attacked their village."

"But the Reikai promised to help them out when they were under attack," Yukina said with a soft voice, practically a whisper. "You were send to protect them, and that is way they might see you as guilty, but could it be that they see Koenma, as the head of the Reikai as more responsible. I mean, he is the one that send you too late…"

"You know Urameshi, she has a point," said Kuwabara, who, of course, supported Yukina's vision. He took her hands. "My love, you are so smart. Smart and beautiful!"

In the shadow, a certain fire demon clutch his fist, grinded his teeth and prepared to attack a certain sister-touching human.

* * *

"If my ears aren't deceiving me, it looks like the Tantei is fighting. Perfect! That means they won't notice us!" 

"Sarchi?" Meike pulled his dark-green sleeveless shirt. "Should I go give the warning?"

He turned around with an evil grin on his face. "No… We are not going to give a warning."

"Wha..!" Sarchi put his hand in front of her mouth to prevent the Tantei from hearing her. Meike pulled his hand away. "But we are supposed to give a warning before we attack!"

"Well, we're not attacking now, are we? We will do that later."

"But they need time to respond and figure it out! It isn't fair if we don't…"

"Life isn't fair, Meike. Learn to live with it." He turned around and starred at the Tantei again, who were only a couple of hundred feet away. 'Poor twerps. They have no idea that danger is so close. They won't know what hit them!'

Meike stared at Sarchi, or at least the back of his head. 'This is wrong. It's part of the rules. We must always give a warning, always give a second option, a way out… It's not fair if they don't get a warning.' She looked in the distance and saw how Kurama suppressed a smile, when a black clothed boy glared daggers at a orange-haired boy which he had just hit. 'Why wouldn't they deserve a warning…?' Meike clutched the orange shell in her little fist. The soft material turned warm and not before long the warmth was spreading throughout Meike's body. It was so familiar, so trusted. It reminded her of the times Ira would pick her up and hug her. 'Ira…' Stronger than ever before, Meike felt as if Ira were with her. She opened her hand and looked at the shell, which sparkled in all colors, but this time 1 color dominated: aqua.

She looked up again. Ira had decided to let Kurama live, to let him go, to let him be unharmed. Ira and Sarchi were almost the same age, only 2 flow-cycles apart, yet they were so different and now Meike was seeing the biggest difference of them all. Where Ira would try to build a new life according to the rules by which the Acire race had lived peacefully for 3000 years, Sarchi would ignore them if they stood in his way. Ira cared about tradition and a solution for everyone, allies and enemies, Sarchi only cared for himself. Ira cared, Sarchi didn't. Meike looked at the back of Sarchi's head again. 'Am I really going to follow all his orders without a fight, bringing myself and my race to disgrace? … No… No, I won't! I don't care what he'll do to me… I just can't do this. I could never forgive myself…'

'I… I could never forgive myself.' Meike rose to her feet, making Sarchi turn around to see what she was doing. "I can't…I just…" She shook her head. "I don't care… I don't care what you do to me, or what your intentions are… But you can't force me to stay quiet!" Meike raised her head, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

* * *

"Still, I think it just plain coward to blame us for it all. I mean, we tried to help those being, for goodness sake!" Yusuke exclaimed. 

"Yes, Yusuke, you've said that ten times now. We got it," Genkai said annoyed.

"Listen, all I'm trying to say…"

"Quiet!" Everyone looked at Hiei, becoming death-quiet. All, but Kuwabara.

"Why should we? Just because you say so!"

"I heard something…"

"You did?" Yusuke asked. He raised his head and looked around. "I don't sense anything."

"Maybe it was the wind…" Botan thought.

"Baka! I know what wind sounds like. This was definitely a voice."

"What!" Yusuke rose to his feet. "But then… where is it coming from?"

* * *

Sarchi pressed his hand to Meike's mouth. "What do you think you're doing!" he hissed. "They'll find us if you don't keep your voice down!" He relaxed a little bit and took his hand away from her mouth. 

"I don't care. I… I will warn them. They need to be warned…" Meike said, almost as if in trance.

"What! Are you crazy! You'll destroy the planning, the strategy! Everything!" His face tensed. "Listen to me! Who cares about this warning? They don't…" he gestured to the Tantei, "I don't care and hearing you, you care about nothing about now! So who cares!"

Meike's blank eyes disappeared, getting back to reality. Who cares? There was only 1 answer that none could get around. "Ira cares…"

"I… Ira…?" Sarchi's grip loosened as he stared in nothingness. 'Ira?' Meike fell out of his hands on the ground and started to run away, away from Sarchi so she had some distance and time to perform the ancient ritual. 'Ira?' She did it. Even from such a great distance, she would show off her power, she would still control the younger ones, having them on her side, she would still be standing in his way. 'I won't let you… take my revenge…! Never! Do you hear me Ira? Never! You know I can't stop Meike now, now you'll feel when I will harm her…You destroyed it, Ira… the first phase of _my_ plan… How could you! How could you, Ira?' Sarchi buried his hands in his hair. Without an expression he looked into the distance. Ira had won the first battle in their physiological war.

* * *

Meike looked around. The lake from which they came was too far away. If she would sing from there, the Reikai Tantei would barely be able to hear her. To make sure they got the warning loud and clear, she climbed up a tree, not to far from Genkai's temple. She held the shell in the palm of her hand. Time to begin. 

'Concentrate…' That was the most important thing. "Water from the Earth, join your comrade in the Air and together bring my message." It wasn't her formula. Ira had used it to call upon the rain the day their village was attacked. She liked the sentence. It resembled how one element could tie two others together for a shared goal.

A small shard of fog rose from the ground, spreading over the forest. It didn't get more then 50 cm high, but that was all Meike needed to get her message through. She preferred to let it rain when she would send a warning, but she didn't have the ability yet. Right now, she had to do with thin fog.

Meike took a deep breath and started.

'_Armies have concurred and fallen in the end…'_

* * *

"Where is this fog coming from?" Yusuke said. 

"Wait, listen!" Kurama turned around. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Botan stood besides him.

"A voice… A singing voice!"

"I hear it too," Yukina said, sitting up straight.

'_Kingdoms have risen, then buried by sand…'_

"Oh no… Does that mean..?"

"Yes, Kuwabara. It means we'll get to see some more Acire action within a short period. The only question now, " Kurama said, "is where, when and maybe more important… who?"

"If they're that specific, all the information we need has to be in the song…" Botan closed her eyes and listened to the best of her possibilities. The other members of the Tantei soon followed her example in order to try to get informalities from the warning.

'_We'll all be forgotten_

_There is no endless fame_

_But everything we do,_

_Is never in vain'_

* * *

Sarchi slowly regained his normal thinking-pattern as he tilted his head to the right, listening to Meike's song. 'You had better not tell them everything, little girl, because if they understand what I'm going to do with your help, that could very well mean the death of both of us.' 

'_Forests and deserts_

_Rivers, blue seas_

_Mountains and valleys_

_Nothing here stays'_

* * *

Almost reaching the end of the song. All Meike could do now was hoping that the Tantei might understand the cryptic song. 

'_While we think we witnessed _

_We are part of the scene'_

* * *

The Tantei listened without drawing breath. The fog already started to withdraw, showing them the song was getting to it's end. 

'_This never-ending story'_

The fog was practically gone as the last words echoed over the land:

'_Where will it lead to?'_

Silence. Silence that seemed to reach the unending.

Botan was the first to speak: "… Woo… That was… freaky…" She turned to Kurama. "Did you understand that? I couldn't make any sense of it."

"It was very vague, but there have to be some clues…" Yusuke said.

"'_Concurred and fallen in the end.' _Those who now think they have won, will be the ones that lose," Hiei started the analysis. "_'Kingdoms have risen, then buried by sand…_" Even the largest will eventually fade away."

Kurama continued. "_But everything we do, is never in vain'._ Because of an action, this will happen."

"Lack of protection from Reikai?" Yukina thought.

"Could very well be possible…" Kurama agreed. "The next part confirms that. '_Mountains and valleys, nothing here stays.'_ Even the biggest or strongest can stop existing…"

* * *

Meike let herself drop on the ground, falling on her knees. She stood up and quietly walked to Sarchi, who she found watching the Reikai Tantei. 

"They are trying to figure it out." Sarchi turned around. "You made it far to easy to understand. I hope for you they don't get the full meaning, that could mean trouble..."

Meike didn't reply, she just looked at the Tantei and at Kurama, who looked like he was caught in thoughts. 'It doesn't matter. Even if they found out, you would still find a way to get the damage done…'

* * *

"So we agree that the next assault will most likely take place in the Reikai, or at least against someone of the Reikai," Genkai concluded. 

"Still, what do they mean with: _'This a never-ending story'_?" Yukina asked.

"One event will follow the other," Hiei explained. "Reikai did something, they will do something, the Reikai will do something and so on…"

"Like a chain-reaction," Kuwabara said.

"Well well, do you know such a difficult word?" Hiei said grinning.

"Why you…!"

"Come on, guys. This is not the right moment," Kurama said. "They will attack within a short period of time and we still don't know who."

Genkai turned to the blue-haired ferry-girl. "Botan, fly to the Reikai immediately and inform Koenma about the newest developments."

Botan nodded. "Will do!." She took her oar in her hand and let it flow in the air, jumping on it as soon as it stayed stable in the air. "I'll fly as fast as I can. You take care of yourself, alright?"

"Will do," Yusuke said.

"You take care too," Yukina added. She waved at the ferry-girl, who started to fly higher and higher, further and further away from the temple.

* * *

"She's leaving! That's it! The moment we have been waiting for!" Sarchi grabbed hold of Meike's shirt, picking her up and clutching her under his arm. "You stay quiet and let me do this. Remember, not a sound! If I lose my concentration, we'll both be death!" 

Meike nodded. She knew what was going to happen next. She closed her eyes and tried to think of happy things, so she wouldn't feel nauseas.

Sarchi stared into the distance, focusing on his energy. Slowly his body lost its solid form and with his, Meike's body as well. Not before long they both had turned into a shard of water vapor looking like a small cloud, floating in the air, being carried by the wind or draw to other clouds. They went up, higher and higher, following the trail of a certain grim-reaper on an oar.

* * *

It didn't take long before Botan reached the Reikai. She jumped of her oar and started to run towards Koenma's office. In her hurry, she didn't see someone coming from around the corner. 

"AH!" Ayame fell to the ground, dropping the papers she had been carrying. She looked up, pissed. "Botan!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ayame!" Botan apologized to her colleague. "I didn't see you."

"Well, I've noticed that!" She looked down to the papers on the floor. "Aw… It will take me hours to get them back in right order!"

Botan helped Ayame gather the forms. "It's my fault. I'll help you fix it."

"You had better!" Ayame exclaimed.

"I promise. I'll be right back." She handedthe other ferry-girl the papers beforestanding up.

"He! Where are you going?" Ayame asked surprised.

"To Lord Koenma. I have some urgent information." Botan made a few steps, trying to run, but all of a sudden she started to feel dizzy. The world was turning around, faster and faster. Her legs got weak and no longer able to carry her weight, Botan collapsed.

"Botan!" Ayame rushed to her friend and helped her to sit up straight. "Botan, what's wrong?"

"I… I feel so… weak… So… tired."

"All of a sudden? Just a minute ago you were bouncing around!"

"I… I don't… know…"

* * *

Meike looked at the ferry-girl who lay in her friends arms. Sarchi had decided to block her energy for a short period of time, so they would have some time to carry out 'phase 2', or at least what was left of it. 

Still in their vapor form, Sarchi and Meike moved through the halls of the Reikai palace.

* * *

Koenma growled. The pile of paperwork only seemed to get bigger, he even had to be in his teen-form to reach the top files. No matter how hard he worked, one finished file would be replaced by two new ones. 

He took a red stamp and pressed it on the right-bottom of the paper, before putting it aside. "Request denied!" 'I should get some more henchmen to do these meaningless things… All my ogres are busy with other things…' 'We request that you open a portal between the human and demon world…' Ha! Like I would fall for that!'

He put the stamp away and grabbed the next file of the pile and started reading it. 'Is it just me, or is the air getting damp in here?'

* * *

With one of her friends arms over her shoulder, Ayame slowly carried Botan through the hallways. "Botan, do I really…" 

"Yes… It's… very important…" Botan said, almost out of breath. Koenma had to know about the song and her current state only pointed out more that this was serious.

"It's not far anymore. Just two more halls and we'll be at his office," Ayame told.

* * *

Tip… Tip… 

Koenma looked up when he heard water drops falling. His eyes widened when in front of him he saw a transparent thin vapor. The vapor was forming into drops and those started to stick together, forming a small figure.

Concentration. She had to get out of this form, not too slow and not too fast. She noticed Koenma's eyes on her as she became more aware of her solid-turning body.

The prince of the Reikai looked with surpriseat the little girl with pink curls, who was kneeling on the floor of his office. He wondered why he couldn't feel her presence, even when she was sitting in front of him.

Meike was afraid. She knew what to do, but every part of her body resisted. However, after a few moments she gently lifted up her head and looked in Koenma's eyes. She was afraid to look, she didn't want to see what was going to happen, but she had no choice.

Intrigued by her eyes, Koenma stared as under hypnosis in them, those big pink-colored orbs. They were so innocent, yet so full of fear at the same time. He noticed how the girl switched her attention and her eyes just a mere fraction away from him, behind him. As her eyes grew big with fear, Koenma felt a sharp pain in his chest and head. Everything around him turned black as he fell unconscious. His head first fell on the desk, but because of imbalance he fell to the side, off his chair and on the floor.

From behind him someone grinned. "That was too easy! The prince of the Reikai, down without a fight!" Sarchi laughed. "How pathetic!"

Meike looked at the unmoving body. She had seen this before. It was the worst state a person could be in, worse than living, worse than being death. She couldn't imagine that he had to be punished so severe, so cruel. 'If Ira ever finds out, she'll be so angry… She would never wanted to let this happen… But it has… I'm so sorry. Please forgive me…' "Please…Forgive me…"

"He never will, Meike," Sarchi said grinning. "He will never say another word and even if he does, he will never ever forgive you."

Knocks on the door.

"Damn! They're here already!" He grabbed Meike and turned back to their vapor form, waiting to see who entered the room.

* * *

Knock-knock! 

"Why isn't he opening the door, or at least saying something!" Ayame yelled frustrated. "He was here 5 minutes ago. Well, in that case I just have to let myself in!"

"Be… careful…"

"No worries, Botan. There's most likely noting wrong." Ayame touched the doorknob and turned it, opening the large door. She gave it a little push, opening the door further, not noticing that as she did it a small cloudlike vapor slipped over the floor past them, disappearing around the corner. "Lord Koenma?"

Ayame walked in, Botan still hanging on her shoulder. She looked around. "Not at his desk, not near the screen…"

"Lo… Look…" Botan pointed.

There he was, on he floor. Ayame covered her mouth with her free hand, her way of preventing a scream. She walked towards the laying body as fast as she could, still carrying her friend. "Lord Koenma!"

Once near their boss, Ayame put Botan against the desk and sat down herself next to Koenma. "My Lord! Wake up!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Wake up, damnit!" She let go of him. "No reaction, limited spirit energy… Lord Koenma isn't death, but he certainly isn't functioning normal… What happened to him?"

Botan knew the answer to that question. "A… Acire…"

* * *

**A/N: **Woo! That was a loooong chapter! More then 13 pages in Word! O.o I hope it makes up for the long time it took me to write it :) 

Please, review. :puppy-dog eyes: Please?


	9. Back to the Source

**When The Water Burns**

**A/N: **Here I am again with chapter 9! So far this is the only story that I had plenty of idea's for to continue, so I guess that's a good thing. Phase 2 of the Acire plan has been preformed, now how will the Tantei react to it? You will read it this chapter!

Before I forget, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. Thank you so very, very much! I love you all!

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Oh, how I wish I did, but unfortunately, I wasn't the lucky one to create it :( Still I do own the Acire.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Back to the Source**

With shaking hands she tried to control the flying oar of the rough waves of the wind. Still recovering from her sudden collapse it took Botan all her strength to do even the most normal things. Slowly her energy returned to her, but she could sense the blockade inside of her body.

She looked down where on her lap the prince of the Reikai lay. She and Ayame had decided that Botan should take him away from the Reikai, afraid that the Acire might still be there and would return to finish the job. The place safest in her mind was Genkai's temple with the Reikai's elite team. Ayame had stayed in the Reikai to inform other employees. The king of the spirit world unfortunately was on a so called 'business trip', a very important 'business trip'. No one was allowed to lay contact, and even if they would ignore that for once, only very few spirits knew where the king was. Botan and Ayame, both working for Koenma, had no idea.

'This is just too much. First Kurama, then Kuwabara and now Lord Koenma. Is no one safe from these creatures?'

* * *

They were once again reaching their little house build on the loose sand. Sarchi and Meike had been instructed to get back to the demon world as soon as they could after performing 'phase 2' in the Reikai, this out of safety messieurs. The groups oldest knew that they were in less danger grouping together, then when they would swarm around all on their own. 

"Remember, not a word!" Sarchi said strict, almost a snarl.

Meike nodded. Telling Ira what happened would be suicide, in 2 ways. Both Ira and Sarchi would be out of themselves of anger. "Not a word…"

She was the first to contact the sand. Lingering, Sarchi gestured Meike to get inside. A new level of fear was born inside her. She was sitting between 2 immense fires, powers far greater then her own, which were fighting each other in a constant battle. Choosing sides would be too dangerous in this situation.

"Ah, you're back!" Ira smiled as her fellow Acire entered. "And? How did it go?"

"Fine…" Sarchi said uninterested.

"Everything went well," Meike said, a small nervous smile on her lips. 'Well… sort of…' she sighed in her mind.

"That's great to hear!" Ira exclaimed, her eyes twinkling of happiness. "Perfect! That means our problems will be solved soon. You hear that, Jeresa? Everything will be going in the good direction from now on!"

The youngest girl, who was sitting in a dark corner, turned her head and smiled sweetly. She still didn't understand how 1 little action could get their lives uphill, but as long as Ira said it was alright, she would think it was fine, too.

"Trust me. Within 1 day, everything will be alright! This will all be over and we can start rebuilding our lives."

Meike tried to hide the fearful surprise in her eyes. Was Ira's original plan capable of doing all that? 'Oh no… What have I done…?'

Sarchi grew annoyed and quite uncomfortable with Ira's happiness. "I'm out of here."

Ira turned to him, calming her head and getting serious. "Wait a minute! You're not going anywhere. That we'll be safe once this is all over is a very good thing, but that time is not now. You know that better then anyone. Right now it's still tricky if you get out to far."

"Oh, stop nagging!" Sarchi snarled at her, his gray eyes frozen. "I can take those Tantei freaks on all by myself!"

Ira went into attack mode. "No, you can't. None of us can! If they caught you all alone, you'll be fish bait!"

"You think I can't beat them!"

"Indeed!"

"Arg! Come on! Those morons are back in their own little world. They don't even have a clue about what is going on!"

"But they could find out soon! Within a day, the danger will be gone, but as long as Koenma is still under our control, we're in an awkward position. It's easy to misinterpreted!"

"Alright, so I'll be around here, not too far away! That good enough for you!" he yelled on top of his lungs.

"Getting it from you, I have to do with it, but don't you dare getting out of our territory. If I notice I can't sense you anymore, I'm going to find you and it won't be pleasant," Ira warned him with her voice shaking of anger.

"Like I'd care!" Sarchi turned his back to the aqua water demon. "I'm out of here!'

"Sarchi!" He didn't respond to her call. "Damn him! Why does he have to be so stubborn? He knows this is the most risky part of it all."

Meike didn't understand what Ira was talking about, but she was smart enough not to ask. She should have known what they were going to do, but since she didn't follow Ira's long planned strategy, she hadn't the slightest clue.

"O well…" Ira patted Meike's head. "As long as you tell me everything went well, I'm not going to get worked up. I mean, why would one be angry if everything is going perfectly?"

Meike smiled slightly, trying to hide the guild. 'I let her down… But I can't tell her…I just can't…'

* * *

"Look!" Yukina pointed in the sky. 

"Isn't that Botan?" Yusuke thought out loud, raising to his feet.

"It is," Kurama said, standing next to his friend. "But what is it what she's carrying?"

Yusuke narrowed his eyes and stared in the distance. The next second his eyes grew with fear. 'It couldn't be…' "Koenma…?"

"What!" Kuwabara abandoned his place next to Yukina and walked forwards a few steps.

A few seconds later Botan, totally exhausted, landed in front of the temple, almost falling off her oar as she did. In slow-motion she let Koenma slide onto the ground, before she too let herself fall on the grass. She looked up to Yusuke, who had rushed to her as she stumbled down her oar. "Hello…"

"Botan, what happened to you?" the brown-eyed spirit detective asked his friend worried.

"Still trying to figure that out myself…" she said, out of breath. "It feels like my energy is blocked."

"You could say that!" Yusuke exclaimed. "Damn, Botan!"

"What happened to him?" Kuwabara asked, pointing at the unconscious body of the Reikain prince.

"Well… I'm not sure… But I suspect… the Acire are behind it," Botan was able to tell.

"The Acire? But how? How did they find their way to the Spirit world?" Kurama wondered.

"Don't… know…"

"Well, we can figure that out later," Genkai brought in. "Right now we need to find out what in wrong with Koenma and see if we can get rid of the blockade of Botan's Ki."

Yusuke and Kuwabara picked up their boss and started to carry him inside the temple.

* * *

While the nerves were still racing inside her body, Meike felt how her limbs got heavy and her eyelids started to close without her own permission. She couldn't suppress the yawn. 

"Guess you're worn down from this tiring day," Ira said smiling. She stood up and wrapped her arms around the young pink-haired girl, carrying her to a corner, where she put the girl down. She stroke Meike's face with the back of her hand. "Go to sleep. You have done a great job today and I want you to know that I'm very proud of you." Ira tugged the girl in. "Sweet dreams, my little adventurer."

Meike closed her eyes and rolled onto her left side. 'Why does she say that? I feel so guilty…'

* * *

All watched as Yukina and Kurama bowed down over Koenma to inspect his body. 

"I don't see any wounds…" Kurama mumbled.

"Neither do I," Yukina told him.

"There must be something!" Yusuke exclaimed, getting worked up. He was shaking because of stress and the lack of ability to help at this particular moment didn't help much either.

"There is one thing that I can't place… I sense a disturbance in his energy. It feels like it's being held inside his body," Kurama said turning to his friend, "like an animal in a cage. It tries to get out, like any normal aura would do, float around the body… However in this case, in looks like the energy is trapped and can't get out. This could result in unconsciousness, since the body needs the energy from the spirit to function normally."

"Sounds logical enough," Kuwabara said scratching his chin. "Is there something we can do about it?"

"We need to get the Ki to flow again," Yukina replied. "This however may be difficult, since the body does not only keeps his energy in, but ours out too…"

"His blood…" Kurama mumbled, interrupting Yukina.

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke asked questioning.

"You have access to the Ki when you have contact with the persons blood. Back in the Dark Tournament when I was battling against Touya and my spirit energy was blocked by Gama, I let him cut me with his ice sword so I had access to my blood and Ki."

"I remember that," Kuwabara said in thoughts.

"Sounds good enough, let's try it!" Yusuke looked at the Reikain prince. "Uh… How do we get to his blood?"

"We'll cut him," Kurama answered nonchalant.

"What! You can't do that to Lord Koenma!" Botan yelled, which resulted in her being out of breath. She closed her eyes to stop the dizzy feeling inside her head.

"Calm down, Botan. It will only be a little one, which will heal in no time at all. I'm sure it won't even leave a scar," Kurama tried to assure her.

"Alright… But who of us is going to do that?" Yusuke wondered. He didn't have to wait long for an answer. Hiei unfolded his arms and stepped away from the wall, reaching under his cloth. The next moment he held his unsheathed katana in his right hand. "Um… Isn't that a bit too drastic Hiei?" Yusuke said sweatdroping.

"No way I'll let that shrimp near Koenma!" Kuwabara yelled. "We can't trust him! He could decide to de-head him for all that matters!"

The black-clothed Koorime smirked. He _could _do that…

"Hiei-san is very skilled with the sword. He knows better then all of us how to use it and how to make which injury," Yukina defended the fire demon. "I think we should let him…"

"But…" Kuwabara protested.

"Let him," Kurama said agreeing with Yukina. He looked at his crimson-eyed friend, who was staring back. The kitsune didn't worry. He knew Hiei longer then today and experience had taught him Hiei was a cryptic person, having his own complicated honor code. Kurama was convinced that his Koorime friend would not kill anyone who was asleep, or at least in a very weakened state in which he hadn't the chance to fight back, which would make it a very un-honorable kill.

'You know me too well fox,' Hiei concluded in his mind. Although he disliked the prince of the Reikai for letting him work for the spirit world, he couldn't kill him, no matter how much he liked the thought. Still, getting the chance to swing his katana at the brown-haired prince was enough for him to do it, especially now he couldn't get punished for it. He walked forwards and stopped on the right side of the laying Koenma, feeling the eyes of the other members of the Tantei burning in his back as he did so.

"I swear, if you do anything…"

Kuwabara didn't get the time to finish, because the same moment he spoke, Hiei raised his sword and with a fast and flowing swing he cut Koenma's lower left arm, no more then an inch long and half an inch deep.

"Perfect," Kurama nodded. He walked forwards as Hiei returned to stand against the wall. The redhead took Koenma's arm in his left hand and with the fingers of his right hand trailed over the red line. He placed the top of his forefinger exactly in the middle of the cut and pressed it a bit inwards, making light contact with the blood inside Koenma's body. "That's strange…"

"What? What's wrong?" Yusuke asked worried.

"His blood…" Kurama turned to the spectators. "It isn't streaming… It's like… his heart has stopped beating and everything else in the body has stopped functioning as well…"

"Heart stopped…? No I don't believe that! If that would be the case, he would be dead," Yusuke spoke.

"Does that count for spirits too?" Kuwabara wondered.

"Let's find out!" Yusuke kneeled next to Kurama and placed his fore- and middle finger on the large blood vein in the neck of the brown-haired prince. "Good thing I know something about first-aid." He concentrated on the skin beneath his fingers. At first he didn'tnotice anything, when all of a sudden. "I think I feel something!"

"A pulse?" Genkai asked interested.

"I think so… It's weak, but it is there…"

"So… His heart is beating, but without pumping the blood around…" Kurama said in thoughts.

"Almost as if his blood has frozen inside his veins," Yukina said softly.

"I don't think such a thing is possible," Yusuke told her.

"Well…" Kurama took his finger from the wound and studied the clean fingertip. Not a speck of blood on it. "It does look that way…And without the body having the blood to provide oxygen and everything else it needs, that could very well be the real reason for his unconsciousness."

"Can you use one of your plants to undo this?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

"I'm afraid not… This is unlike anything I've seen before," the redhead sighed, shaking his head.

"Then there's only one thing we can do, not?" Genkai crossed her arms and kept her stare focused on the unmoving form laying in front of her. "Get back to the source. The one who caused it most likely knows how to get rid of it too."

Yusuke rose to his feet, clutching his right fist. He gave a quick nod to Kurama, before he spoke up with a serious face. "Alright then. Time to hunt down some Acire."

* * *

Jeresa fiddled with her light-orange dress, plucking a tread that was on the edge of becoming a lose end. The young girl had decided to give it a little help 'breaking free'. She turned her head to the opposed corner where Meike was sleeping very restless. The older pink-haired girl kept rolling from side to side, making squeaking noises as she did. Still nothing interesting. Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle. 

The same moment the aqua water demon was looking outside, staring in the distance. After their argument Sarchi had traveled far away from their plain, farther away then he said he would go. Clearly, he was provoking the elder. Ira clutched her fist. 'I'm warning you… Do not cross the border…'

Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle. Jeresa started glaring at the little tread, getting really annoyed it didn't go as she wished. She bowed down, closing in like a predator on it's prey. Little fingers held the orange tread, orange strings of hair falling in front of purple eyes.

Slowly but certain it started to faint away. Ira straightened her back, walking outside a few steps. How dared he! He knew this was too dangerous! "Damn you Sarchi!"

Jeresa didn't hear Ira cursing. Her stare on the tread became so intense that if she would have been a fire demon, it would have combusted spontaneously. She concentrated to the fullest to get it out of the rest of the fabric.

Still staring in the distance, Ira started to speak to the sitting girl. "Jeresa, I have to take care of something. I'll be back before you know it. 'I swear, Sarchi. you're not getting away with it this time!' Without looking if the little girl had heard her words she quickly turned to the doorpost and created a barrier of flowing water, to prevent the younger girl from wandering around. However, because of her hurry not to lose Sarchi, who's Ki was fading rapidly, she didn't pay much attention to the blockade, unaware that she made it weaker then she normally would. Without a second to spare, she started her chase after the disobedient male.

She hadn't heard a single word her elder had said to her. Jeresa grinded her teeth, her little fingers and hands shaking of tension. Concentrating even harder, she was able to grab the tread between two fingertips once more, but this time pressing the fingers together for dear life. Then, with a little screech, she pulled it, letting out all her concentration and energy, causing a wave-reaction inside the little house. In sudden realization of what she did, she covered her mouth with her right hand, looking over to Meike, who was still sleeping. Jeresa let out a relieved sigh.

Proud of herself, she raised her left hand where, between thumb and forefinger, she held a small thin orange string of fabric. "Got you!" She quietly started to laugh out loud, excited that she had beaten the 'evil tread' and had led it to 'freedom'. Letting herself fall on her back with spread arms, she failed to notice that her sudden explosion of energy had caused Ira's weak barrier to get unbalanced and fall apart, leaving the exit unprotected.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Kuwabara spoke, his voice slightly shaking. Together with the other members of the Reikai's elite team he had returned to the demon world, in search for someone to help them out. "I mean, those Acire are some crazy creatures. Who knows what they might do?" 

"And that is exactly why we're going to find one!" Yusuke said with a strong voice. "They have crossed the limit! Kidnapping Kurama was one thing, taking you down, I can live with that as well, because she was defending her territory…"

"Defending! Hell, entering someone's body isn't defending!"

"… but to stop someone's blood from running, that is just plain low." Yusuke said, ignoring Kuwabara. "This has to stop… Now!"

Kurama, who was walking behind Yusuke, kept looking to the side. He couldn't imagine that any of the Acire would do such a thing. Meike and Jeresa because they were too young, Ira because she would prefer a face-to-face confrontation and Sarchi because Ira would always be on his neck, keeping him in line. Still, he couldn't get rid of the feeling that the victims weren't chosen randomly. Why kidnap him, only to let him go unharmed? Why go after Kuwabara, only to knock him out, but in such an extreme way? Why did they got off so easily, but did Koenma have to pay such a high price?

"What are you thinking about, fox?" the black-clothed fire demon asked, his eyes fixed on his former youko friend.

"Nothing…"

"There is no nothing," Hiei said with his low voice.

Kurama slightly smiled. "True…" He raised his head and looked at the leaves on the branches as they walked towards the lake where he was held captive for almost a day. "You know… I think you and Botan were right. There was more to my kidnap then just getting me in their hands."

Yusuke turned around as he heard these words. "What are you talking about?"

"It's all too accidental. It was all well planned. My kidnap as well as Koenma's attack. If not, someone would have noticed them as they were performing the action. We're all seeing this too much as lose outbursts… Although I have no strong evidence, I suspect it's all part of a bigger whole…"

"We can ask them soon." Hiei nodded.

The others followed his line of sight and saw the lake in the distance, the lake which the Acire inhabited.

* * *

She lifted up her round face and stared outside. It didn't took long for her to recognize one of the spiritual forces closing in on her territory. Jeresa's big purple eyes started to sparkle as she clearly felt Kurama approaching. "He came back!" 

Suddenly she noticed the door, without the barrier to block it. "That's strange… Ira never leaves without it…" The only reason the girl could think of was that her elder wouldn't be gone long and had to be somewhere close. That way she would be able to sense them, but it wasn't necessary to protect them from the outside.

'Would she mind? No… She would tell if she doesn't like it.'

Jumping to her feet, she turned to her friend, seeing she was still asleep. Jeresa kneeled next to Meike, carefully stroking the pink curls. "You sleep, big sister. I'm going to say 'Hi' to Kurama. I'll say it for you too!" She pressed a little kiss on Meike's cheek, before she quietly swum outside, looking around if she could see Ira. She didn't, so she figured that it would be alright for her to greet the red-haired human. Following the stream she let herself drift to the surface, her smile widening more and more as the light approached her.

* * *

Slowly, Yusuke let his jeans jacket fall on the ground, getting ready for a fight. 

"Yusuke, please. There is no need to use violence."

"There is, Kurama. I don't want things to end up as they did the last time I saw an Acire. This time I'm not going to stand there and watch: they will listen to us! This will end now!" He clutched his fist out of anger, grinding his teeth.

* * *

She stopped her persuade, body frozen when she suddenly felt the rising energy in the distance above the water-surface. The aqua-eyed water demon recognized it to be owned by the spirit detective with brown eyes and raven-colored hair. 'Well… That was predictable.' Ira sighed. 'This is just great! The Tantei decides to pop up exactly when mister 'I'm-too-good-to-listen-to-you' is too far away to help out! Arg!' 

She buried her hands in her long hair. Sarchi's Ki was barely sensible, too far away for her to get him now. She just had to deal with the Tantei herself then!

She was about swim upwards, when she felt a very familiar and weak energy source near the Tantei. Her eyes grew with fear. 'But how…? I thought I…' "Jeresa!"

* * *

"Look!" 

Hiei, Yusuke and Kurama all at the same time focused their eyes on the water, all seeing what Kuwabara had noticed.

"That must be one of them," Hiei growled.

"My thoughts exactly!" Yusuke took a step forwards and raised his right hand.

"What are you doing? You can't just shoot at it!" Kurama exclaimed panicked. Although not the full 100 percent sure, he had quite a good idea of who it was approaching them from under the surface.

The tip of his forefinger started glowing asthe spirit detectiveaimed it at the wrinkling water where he saw a shadow appear, growing as it got closer. "Yes, I can…"

* * *

**A/N:** O.o Cliffhanger! I'm so mean, cutting it off on the worst moment. But that means that if you want to know how it ends, you have to read the next chapter :D (which, hopefully, won't be posted too long from now :remembers long periods between updates: Arrrrr, bummer!) 

I hope you liked this chapter. Please review! … Please?


End file.
